Life is Beautiful... here are some thoughts about mine!

2009-06-09T20:22:00.008-04:00

Bye, Bye Blog World!

I guess this is my official last post until I have the time to keep up with blogging properly. I had a hard time posting when it was cold and gross outside, now that the weather is warm, there is no way I'm getting on here, SO I leave you with pictures from Joelle's fun wedding last weekend! Until next time...but don't hold your breath!

2009-02-15T21:42:00.007-05:00

1 year...and a day...

I cannot believe that my baby girl is 1 already! Where does the time go? (Obviously not to blogging, huh?) We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Avalyn's birthday and Valentine's day. I really should post picts, but most everyone who reads this is on Facebook, so I'll just post them there...Amanda, just one more incentive to join! Come on...everybody's doin' it!

The cake

A picture I took (we are scannerless) of her 1 year picture, hence the glare.

And I have to include one of Owen...we went to Zoo America today and he was in his animal-lovin' glory! They had the reptile petting room open and had lots of animals out of their cages along the way (supervised) and we got the the wolves just as they were feeding them, which was pretty cool. On our

way in they handed out vouchers for free hot chocolate and that just made the trip extra perfect! We had a great weekend! Hopefully more later...

2009-01-14T18:09:00.003-05:00

11 Months Old...

This is the new pose...always waving!

I am ridiculously behind in blogging, and I do think to myself all the time, "This would make great blog material!" But when it actually comes down to sitting down and blogging, it just doesn't happen. One of these days I do want to post some Christmas pictures and other random things, but I'll put it off once again. So, until next time...

2008-12-14T21:05:00.000-05:00

10 months old

2008-11-26T14:50:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am SO SO SO thankful for these two precious ones!
Trying to get a good picture today reminded me how extremely "fun" it's going to be to try to get a good Christmas card picture this year! I'll try to tackle that one in the next few weeks!

This is what I got when I sternly said, "Seriously, give me your BEST smile!"

2008-11-17T13:13:00.008-05:00

Happy 3rd (and one month) Birthday, Owen!
Last night we had some family over for yet another (but final) 3rd b-day celebration for Owen. He wanted a Veggie Tales cake and the only character he just HAD to have on was Pa Grape...kind-of random, but whatever. He watched me decorate almost the whole thing. He was booted out of the kitchen after repeatedly licking the cake when I wasn't looking. (I'm sure the people at the party are enjoying that information!)

He has become quite the pro at blowing out candles. (Side note: Terri, what in the world is with my red...it turns brown! I need to fix this problem before I have to attempt Lightening McQueen!!)

And to top off the evening, he got the Veggie Tales Pirate ship from my parents. He played with it the rest of the night and I haven't seen him much today either.

2008-11-14T20:30:00.000-05:00

9 months

2008-11-13T14:05:00.019-05:00

Much needed update...

Well, it's been awhile, so rather than write a novel, I'll hit the highlights through pictures. These first couple are just random ones I LOVE of Aves. I was fooling around with the camera outside a couple months ago...see Joelle, my camera isn't completely worthless.

We were Hershey Park Happy in September. (wow, I am SO far behind!) Owen moved up a candy bar, so he had more ride choices and loved it even more than last year. Avalyn rode a few too! When on the carousel, Owen refused to ride a horse because, "Baby Aves gets to ride on the cool seat and I want to too!" So all 4 of us rode in the cart thing instead of the horses...kind-of pathetic! It got much better from there though. We met up with Ryan's brother and 2 of his kids totally by accident so Owen loved getting to ride some rides with his cousins. Aunt Jo and Marc were there with us too!

Here he is with Dawson...such a good sport about riding the kiddie rides with Owen!

No day in Hershey is complete without going to Chocolate World! Aves was totally freaked out by the singing cows...love her face in this one!

Owen turned 3 on October 15th, but since we were moving then, he had a party with friends a few weeks early. I am so ticked that I didn't get a group picture, but a 3 year old b-day party can be quite hectic as I found out!

I realize that he should have an entire post dedicated to him and his special day, but since he doesn't read this blog, I'm including it with the rest of the updates...hopefully he won't be too scarred! I do have to say that he had the friend party, a cake at my parents, a party at Ryan's parents and cake with just us on his actual b-day...plus we're finally having his family party this weekend...a month late. So, the kid has really lucked out by having his b-day come on moving week. Oh, funny story...we were at a banquet the other night and had cake and I noticed before Owen ate his, he quietly sang happy birthday to himself. He now thinks that every time we have cake, we have to sing to him.

In October I got to host my favorite event of the year...well, one of them. I LOVE my college friends and even though we don't live close, we manage to get together once or twice a year, or actually more this year. Such a fun day! Can't wait until December!

Amanda and I are the baby-makers of the bunch for now...Owen and Blake are a couple months apart and Ethan and Avalyn are 1 month apart.

I love that Avalyn remains lady-like in every picture...nice...

Owen's actual b-day..October 15 (Avalyn 8 months)

Every year on Owen's b-day we go to breakfast at The Fractured Prune. Their donuts are UNBELIEVABLY awesome!

Much of October was spent packing and now much of November has been spent unpacking...I feel like I missed 2 months of life! It is funny what you find when packing. Owen would come downstairs dressed in the craziest stuff. I think I finally am cured from my pack-rat ways though. I got rid of so much stuff, I was quite proud of myself!

Moving day...

All moved in and exploring the place...

Until next time...

2008-11-12T22:10:00.002-05:00

I was 8 months old...

...on October 14, but my mommy was too busy to post anything until now. Since I'll be 9 months old in 2 days, this post just had to be done! More to come...
Poor Owen turned 3 and not a thing was posted to celebrate!
Stay tuned...

2008-09-15T18:38:00.001-04:00

7 months old...

September 14, 2008

2008-09-12T13:51:00.006-04:00

A Foot-washing...

...today I was unloading boxes of applesauce from my car to put in the freezer and noticed Owen was absent from the action...which is rare. I heard him in the bathroom and thought to myself, "What a good boy! He is washing his hands after going to the bathroom." I walked in to tell him how great he was and found him sitting on the sink, washing his feet...using A LOT of soap. I asked him what in the world he was up to and he said, "When my feet get dirty, Nena washes them in the sink." (Like bathing is a new concept or something) I don't even want to know how he got himself up there, but if I had my guess, it's a good thing he was washing his feet.

Little Miss Avalyn is getting so big and so loud! She is making lots of new babbles and is so content and happy, pretty much all of the time...her nursery workers can back me up here! She is just loving life and Owen is really loving that he can play more with her now that she is getting bigger. She'll be 7 months on Sunday, so I'll post her 7 month picture then! I should post a picture of her thigh...it's HUGE! And I figure this is the only time that an enormous thigh picture would be cute!

2008-08-26T13:41:00.002-04:00

Lions, whoppers, and carrots, oh my!

This post is more for my memories sake than anything, but Mr. Comedian (aka: Owen) has been cracking me up lately, so I thought I would jot some of these things down.

Lions: Here is the conversation I overheard between Ryan and Owen last night and if you know Owen, I'm sure you can totally hear him saying this...
O: Where are you going, Daddy?
Ry: To my fantasy football draft.
O: Your fantasy football draft? Where is that?
Ry: Nate's house.
O: Nate's house? Is Daniel going to be there?
Ry: Who's Daniel?
O (looking at him like, HELLO?!?): You know, Daddy, Daniel and the Lion's Den.
Ry: No, he's not going to be there tonight, Owen.

Whoppers:
I have had many "Where in the world did he come up with that?" moments in the past week or so, here are the 2 that I can remember:

Owen had a friend over the other day and this is what I heard as I was upstairs making lunch:
O: What's your dad's name?
D: Jason. What your dad's name?
O: Jerry. And my name's Jimmy.
D: No, you're Owen.
O: Nope. My name's Jimmy.
He had just watched a Veggie Tales video the night before and had been talking about Jerry and Jimmy (the squash) all night. I did end up going down and telling his friend that he was just pretending.

And his new thing is whenever someone asks what his dad's name is, he says, "Ryan" But then when people ask what his mom's name is he always (Try it next time you see him) says, "Momma-mia" He may have snuck off to Broadway when I wasn't looking one at some point...who knows.

He was at a b-day party over the weekend and all the kids were sitting around a table decorating cupcakes. (The only picture I had for this post) He started talking to the boy (who he didn't know) beside him:
O: What's your name?
R: Ryan. What's your name?
O: Owen.
*At this point I was thinking, "Yes! He is off the Veggie names kick and is going to converse like a little trouper!" I was already swelling with pride. He was being so well-behaved and independent and I could have gotten teary at what a big boy he is becoming. I even looked at Ryan and mouthed, "Do you see him?" Not all because he said the right name, but he had been really good all evening. I digress...
R: I'm 4. How old are you?
O: I'm 5. (He then took the tiniest peek up at me to see if I had heard and was going to jump in.)
I said, "Owen, you're not five, but tell him how old you're going to be on your birthday, which is so soon!"
O: Oh yea, I'm going to be 10.
Whatever Owen. When we got home, he told me, "I know I'm going to be 3."

Carrots:
Not the most riveting tale, but here goes anyway...
Because of the amount of time it takes to peel carrots, I usually buy baby carrots for lunches and only use the "real" ones for cooking and baby food. So today I was getting veggies ready for the soup I'm making for dinner tonight and Owen saw the carrots. He started freaking out, "OH MY GOODNESS!!! THEY'RE HUGE! I NEED ONE!" He was talking so loud and running in circles you would think I had giant cookies or something. I told him it's just a carrot, but he was pretty excited, so I peeled him one and said he could have it for a snack. Wow, totally made his day. He first played with "carrot" and the tallest Archibald Asparagus he could find for 20 minutes while I finished peeling and dicing veggies. Then Aves woke up so we went for a walk. It was a total of 60 minutes before the carrot was finished. So, I may have to switch back to "real" carrots because it was worth it for the healthy snack and the hour of contentedness (and sheer joy) it brought Owen.

2008-08-21T14:24:00.000-04:00

Where has the time gone?
It would be impossible to catch up on all the fun things we did over the past month, so I'll just post some of my favorite pictures and recap quickly!

Swimming days...I think Owen spends more time fooling around outside of the water than actually in it, but he has a blast, so I guess that's what counts! He loves goggles and tries to locate them whenever we get near a pool.

Lebanon Fair...balloons, freebies, chicken BBQ, time with family...what more could a kid ask for? "Papa, look! Rides" was not out of his mouth more than 5 seconds before his "softie" Papa had tickets for he and his cousins to ride.

Aves and Grandma

Owen's cousin Cortney showed cows at the fair, so she let him lead the cow around the arena. He loved it and thought he was big stuff. He was officially Cort's shadow the rest of the night!

Aves and Cortney

Feeding the goats at the fair

Aquaman

We celebrated a bunch of birthdays in the Hostetter family one evening at a pool. Owen had fun with his cousins and then had a sleepover at Papa and Grandma's house.

Note: They did have a big pool...this was the better picture :-)

We have been taking advantage of all the great summer foods...corn on the cob, tons of fresh fruit and all those other seasonal favorites! I've been making many batches of baby food and starting to get the freezer stocked with all our favorite things that will be out of season soon!

Thanks to Papa Hostetter for all the corn!

Owen got to go see his first movie in a theater this summer. The Palmyra Cinema showed FREE kids movies every Tuesday, so we went to The VeggieTales Movie in June and Owen got to pick a friend to take to Madagascar last week. They were mesmerized the whole time...except when they were dancing and singing, "I like to move it, move it!"

Love those eyes!

Aves started eating rice cereal a couple weeks ago and just this week started eating sweet potatoes. Every time she eats, she eats like it's her last meal...oh, the noises she makes! I continually crack up at the show she puts on!

Last week we went to Lake Tobias. I had not been there since elementary school and didn't remember what an amazing place it actually is...and so close! I literally could say, "Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!" Plus they had zebras, deer, monkeys, bison, and a petting zoo that made Owen's whole week! We went on the safari ride and fed lots of animals. I did warn Ryan that the next time we saw deer while driving, it probably won't be so enthralling for Owen because he has now fed deer out of his hand.

My favorite picture of the day...typical Owen!

Owen thought it was so much fun to feed all the BIG animals...when he wasn't trying to eat the food himself. I caught him several times giving a bite to an animal, then taking one himself. Oh brother!

Friends

Smooches through the fence...with Aunt Joelle's favorite little monkey!

Feeding the sheep

This experience may have ruined hunting for Owen later on...if this didn't, Bambi will definitely put him over the edge! ( I know, poor Ryan!)

These camels were so amazing close-up...Owen was not interested in getting too close, because they were "cary". (Scary)

Buds

Yea! We're finally nearing the end of potty training! Those who said to wait it out until they are ready...amazing! It is SO TRUE! Just this week (after many weeks of Me begin interested in getting him potty trained and him not being at all interested) he all of a sudden told me that he wanted to wear his big boy underwear (that were previously too "cary" to wear because sometimes they got all wet and that is very "cary") and go on the potty. The other major help in this situation was letting him stand to pee. (This is some serious journalism at work here, I know!) Amazing the difference! He actually takes initiative himself most of the time and goes, does his business and only needs me for the Skittle he gets afterwards! So, I'm officially not buying anymore diapers! (Ok, for a second I forgot I had a 6 month old who is shockingly not potty trained yet...so I change that to not buying anymore diapers for Owen and by the way, Pull-ups do not count as diapers!) One funny story (funny since our wall is still intact) The other day while I was cooking, Owen said he had to go, so I heard him putting the little seat on the potty and figured he must have to go #2. After a few minutes I heard him grunting and groaning and thought to myself. What a good little boy! In there all by himself, like such a big boy! I have to go take a peek. When I peeked around the corner, he was doing pull-ups on the towel rack and his knees were tucked under him like a real pro! Amazingly enough, the towel bar wasn't ripped off the wall.

And last but not least, Happy Be-lated birthday to Marc. This was his cake and for those who don't know. D.C. United is a professional soccer team. (They play against David Beckham's team, the LA Galaxy, and I know all the ladies know who he is!)

That's it for now...it's taken me a week to get this done...until next time!

2008-08-16T14:47:00.004-04:00

6 Months Old...

...on August 14. Thanks for all the suggestions on how to get the sign actually seen instead of eaten, but I just think it's fun to see what stage she is in at each month...as you can see, it's still the "shoving everything in her mouth" stage! I even tried giving her one piece so the other one could be seen.

She is really going to town on the paper!

This whole baby stage is going way too fast! I have really been slacking on the whole blog thing, but I'm going to try to do a post that catches up on the last month...so until next time...

2008-07-25T16:44:00.007-04:00

In other news...

A late, but extremely thrilled welcome to my precious new niece, Brielle Ashlyn, born July 15 @ 4:44 pm! She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 19 inches long! We're so excited to have another girl in what was once a overwhelming boy-filled family! (not that there's anything wrong with that!) We love you, baby Bri!

Deal of the week: I love those rubber rain boots and have been looking for a good price for some for Owen for a long time. Last night I found camo ones for him and pink ones for Aves...originally $16.98...for $2.99! I am now kicking myself for not buying them each another pair in a different size! Owen's were going to be for his b-day, but I gave them to him this afternoon and he is obsessed already. He lined them up beside his bed when he took a nap and when he came downstairs afterwards, he was wearing them. He HAD to go get the mail so he could walk up the street in his boots and when asked if his feet were sweaty, he said, "Yes, but I like it." I can't wait to smell his feet later tonight!

Quotables:

Today Owen opened the door and said, "I'm going to work." I asked him what he would be doing and he said, "I'm going to work with wood." I guess the plumbing phase is over and the construction phase has begun...

I take the quote "You learn something new every day" pretty seriously, so lately I have been trying to teach Owen one new thing every day...anything from what a stop sign is, says and means to who our current President is. He learned about good old G.W.B. on Monday and ever since I have been asking him daily who our president is. So today when I asked him, he thought and thought and said, "The monkey W. Bush" It took me a minute to figure out he got George mixed up with Curious George the monkey, but I was impressed with the connections anyway. He quickly corrected himself and said, "I mean George, George W Bush." I had a good laugh anyway...and the even greater thing was that when I told my mother the story she immediately (and totally seriously) said, "You need to call the White House and tell them that. I'm sure they would do SOMETHING with that story!" Sure mom, I'm sure it would be top priority!

2008-07-25T14:50:00.002-04:00

4th of July @ the cabin

We spent 4 days at the cabin over the 4th of July and had a great time...making S'mores, playing with the Myrtle the Turtle, going in the creek, playing croquet and being outside every chance we got. When it rained we played lots of games inside. We even got to see "the bear". Actually the bear we saw wasn't "THE bear" that has been spotted several times recently, but we think a cub of the big bear...yikes! It was just walking down the road, looking like it was going for a stroll. Owen loves it at the cabin more and more every time we go...we can't wait to go again soon and take Ryan with us. (He stayed home to work, work, work! Such is life these days!) Until next time...

Owen & Myrtle

Nena & Aves

Making S'mores...with the paparazzi

Playing in the creek

2008-07-23T17:30:00.000-04:00

Beach Picts...

We had an awesome time at the beach this year...perfect weather, great new place, (in Bethany Beach, DE) and lots of fun family memories. I'm posting a little backwards, so the 4th of July picts will be posted someday when I get around to it.

Soakin' up the shade!

My boys

Ready for some serious snorkeling

He loved to play in the sand is an understatement

Hangin' with my cousin, Kim

Aves & Auntie Jo

Owen & Aves

2008-07-22T16:11:00.005-04:00

I was 5 months old...

...on July 14 when we were at the beach. Mommy really needs to update this blog, but finding the time these days is pretty hard. Hopefully she'll post some adorable pictures of Owen and me at the cabin over the 4th and at the beach last week. Mommy said to enjoy the fact that I still look great in my bathing suit even though I'm quite the little chunker...she said somehow it won't be so cute in years to come! As you can see from the 5 month photo shoot, I am getting more and more active...I hardly stay in the same place for 5 minutes anymore. I had more fun eating my little sign than holding it up this month! More to come later...

2008-06-30T14:29:00.009-04:00

Avalyn's Kindergarten B-day Treats...

Things are getting back to normal here and I'm allowed back in my house during the day! I've been baking and cooking and trying to get outside when the sun peeks out of the clouds! Yesterday I made these cookies as a practice run for Joelle's shower. (IF she would eventually be having one: Joelle, if you're reading this) I have to admit, I was rejoicing when I ran out of decorations cause they took a long time and the dough made a TON of cookies! I think they turned out pretty cute!

When uploading the flower cookie picts, I realized I had a bunch of other ones I wanted to blog about...I think I'll just save time and add them to this post and write a caption...

Father's Day '08

Owen and Aves got Ryan cool stuff for his Algonquin trip. That bowl is that rubbery material and folds up to be about a half an inch tall. Owen loved going around saying, "Happy Fadder's Day!" all day!

I made BBQ chicken pizza and stromboli and Owen did a really good job helping to roll out the dough. I was impressed with him! (The dough is whole wheat, in case you were wondering about the odd color.)

It cracks me up how Owen does the "head tilt" whenever he says, "Cheese" now. All I have to do is have the camera out and he's in position!

P.S. Although I like to be majorly prepared, the title of this post is a joke...or is it?

2008-06-27T11:50:00.004-04:00

2 am block party...

This has been THE most hectic/stressful week we've had in a long time...and let me preface the whole thing by saying that there will be no pictures (because I'm not at my own computer, can't even find my camera and didn't get any picts of anything) and you're getting the short version of the story, because I'm not sure that I have the energy for the long version.

So, from Saturday to Monday I cleaned the whole house, from bottom to top, including baseboards, walls, and all the nitty-gritty stuff that never gets cleaned. I even dusted my vacuum. Ryan power-washed the house, porches, sidewalk, etc and by Monday evening we were feeling exhausted, but really proud of ourselves. Fast-forward to 2am, when we hear loud banging at our door and see firetrucks and ambulances the whole way up our street (3 different fire companies represented) Ryan goes downstairs and I hear, "Sir, you need to get dressed and get everyone out of the house immediately." So, he grabbed Owen, I grabbed Aves and as soon as we rushed out, 5 firemen in full gear, each with a different sized axe, barged in our house and up the stairs. They tell us the townhouse connected to ours is on fire and they may have to go through our wall to get to the blaze. If they can't get to it within a couple minutes, the whole house WILL be burned down. I'm totally thinking about the hours of scrapbooking and all the precious picts I have, Ry is worried about his dumb deer and duck mounts, Owen is completely excited about the tons of lights, firefighters and activity going on and Aves is sleeping through it all. So, they got the fire out and after 2 hours the fume levels are low enough that it's safe to go back in. Owen is too wired to sleep and Ryan and I were surveying the damage...at this point, it didn't seem like much, other than the horrible smell.
Tuesday morning Ry went to work and by 8am, the detective was knocking at my door for an interview and a written statement about the things that went on prior to the fire. I can't get into these details, but call me if you want them, cause it's amazing. It ends up that the fire was arson (maybe I can share the rest of this story after the drama dies down) and our house had a lot more damage than we thought. We have been sleeping there, but that is the most we're allowed in. We had to have our ceiling and insulation in the basement ripped out and replaced, the whole house cleaned from top to bottom (again!) we'll need new paint everywhere, carpets cleaned (maybe replaced) and the newest kicker is that they may need to rip down all our walls in the basement and tear out the insulation because they cannot get rid of the smell down there. It was the worst damage down there, even thought the fire was started on the second floor. I guess the humidity makes the smoke go down. It still burns your eyes to go down there.
We're just very thankful that we're all safe and the worst things we had to go through were headaches, Owen throwing up a couple times, and a little inconveinence. When we talked to the police, they kept stressing how close we came to losing the whole house. So, we may have to be out of the house next week again for painting...maybe over night a few nights for more ozone scrubbing in the basement, but if our walls in the basement can stay intact, we'll be back to normal shortly. So, if the posts are even more few and far between it's because life is busy these days. Just wanted to update! Hopefully, I can give the details later...until next time!

2008-06-13T16:53:00.003-04:00

4 Months

Hard to believe "Chunks" is 4 months old already!

2008-06-13T16:47:00.001-04:00

Is it possible...

...that girls are too much fun?

2008-06-10T13:30:00.009-04:00

Those HOT days of summer...

...are here and it's technically not even summer yet! We set up Owen's pool (not so much "set up" as dropped the little plastic thing on the ground and ran the water for 5 minutes) and he has been loving it! He was swimming before dinner last night and Ryan lasted about 5 minutes outside with him before he was in the pool too.

This morning I told Owen he could swim before the heat of the day kicked in...that was kind-of pointless since it was 90 degrees by 8:30. We lasted for a little over an hour and then Owen's highlight of the week happened...

Side note: He just got out of the pool...I usually do comb his hair. This IS how he wakes up in the morning...looking like Einstein.
Friends of ours are headed to Disney, so we're fish-sitting. I was not crazy about the idea because I do not have a good track record with pet sitting, to say the least. I won;t have to worry about Owen being occupied for the next 8 days because Dorothy the fish will keep him busy. I have to chuckle at myself because every time I walk through the kitchen I find myself amazed that the fish is still alive. It's been 3 hours and I'm already patting myself on the back. Pathetic, I know. I also realize that my poor, petless, animal-loving child will probably be scoring a new fish out of the deal. If he feeds it, he is going to be aloud to go to the store with me and pick one when Dorothy leaves us...or should I say, IF Dorothy makes it out of here alive.

With the major heat wave going on, O's been playing a lot more dress-up and I have actually scrapbooked 2 pages. Tonight I need to run to get Father's Day gifts and a gift for a 3 year old b-day party this weekend...I asked Owen if Daddy could have anything he wanted, what would it be...to which he replied, "Marbles, lots of marbles." I asked him a few different times, at different times throughout the day, but the answer remained the same, "Marbles" Thanks for all the help, Owen.

Well, gotta go do something productive. Yesterday I made 4 meals, 2 ice cream cakes, a double batch of mini pecan pies and finished the menu for the next 2 weeks. The thought of going in my kitchen does not seem appealing right now, but I have to go check on Dorothy...it's been 30 minutes...

One last picture...I came into the room to find Owen had crawled into Avalyn's little gym thing and they were both craning their necks to watch Sesame Street. Owen has the need to be cuddling at all times. Too cute!

Until next time...

2008-06-03T09:26:00.006-04:00

Sweet Dreams...

I was in one of those panicky "kids are growing up way too fast and there's nothing I can do about it" moods last night, so at 11:00, I decided to snap a few pictures of them peacefully sleeping. I didn't make it into Owen's room, cause I heard Ryan "whisper yelling" from our room for me to leave the poor kids alone, put the camera away and get to bed. I guess he could see the flash going off and hear the zoom going in and out. It's probably good I didn't make it to Owen's room cause he is a lighter sleeper these days. Anyway, here are some of the ones I got of Avalyn before I got in trouble!!

*Note for Nancy: I didn't risk waking her for a picture of her on her belly...I just waited until this morning!

2008-06-02T17:21:00.003-04:00

Nena says...

"Every girl needs a little bling!"

Thanks for my new bracelet, Nena!

2008-06-02T16:40:00.010-04:00

Enjoying life...

Not too much going on...loving this weather, enjoying being outside with the kids and taking advantage of every meal that can be eaten on the deck before the humidity and flies start to get bad. Aves is getting so big and Owen is all of a sudden acting like an adult. Some of the things that come out of his mouth lately just crack Ryan and I up. (Notice I said "some"... other things are not so funny, at least not while he's watching for our reaction!) I need to start writing some of it down so I can always remember. I am continuously reminded at how extremely fast life goes!

Sweet baby Aves

Animal-loving Owen, letting the goats nibble his toes...he gets his love for animals and "no fear" of them attitude all from his daddy!

Watching the goats

Still a little to wobbly for the Bumbo, but she LOVES when I stick her in it! So much freedom to be curious!

2008-05-29T08:30:00.001-04:00

Happy 26th Birthday, Jon!

Hope your day is great! We love you!

2008-05-19T15:41:00.006-04:00

A visit from Mel...

This weekend Melissa came for a visit and I don't know who demanded her attention more...me or Owen. He was enamored with her from the moment she stepped in the door until the moment she left and his little face was pressed into the glass watching her go. We had a fun Saturday with Mel & the Feuchts (and JoJo & Marc even stopped in for some of the fun) and the weekend went too quickly, as always. Avalyn was so glad she got to finally meet Auntie Mel and Owen will be talking about her for weeks. I realized as I was uploading pictures this morning that once you have kids, you kind-of forget to take ones of yourself with your friends. Oh well, we'll get one next time...

P.S. Did you notice my bald little beauty??? She lost most of her hair this weekend...and the rest of it is quickly disappearing...now I need to go buy one of those "Bald & Beautiful" shirts!

2008-05-19T13:58:00.002-04:00

What is up with this weather...

I want to be drinking cold lemonade, NOT hot chocolate...although I am enjoying getting another use out of my favorite mug! Bring on the warm weather!
More later...

2008-05-14T09:29:00.002-04:00

3 Months

2008-05-13T19:56:00.003-04:00

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's day this year and it was extra special because we had Avalyn dedicated at church. After church we had Ryan's parents and my parents over for lunch. I was reminded throughout the day of how much I LOVE being a wife and mommy. I definitely feel like that is what I was born to do!

Saturday evening was our Mother/Daughter Banquet at church...how exciting to get to take a daughter this year! She snoozed right through it!

Since I'm back-tracking...Friday we had a play date at our house (because of rain) that was originally supposed to be at the park. Owen had fun with some of his favorite friends and getting to know Ezra and I had a fun time with the girls...we miss you Suzie! Friday night the Turks came over and while Ryan talked Brian into going to Algonquin with him this year and Owen played with more of his favorite friends, Nancy and I escaped for a little girl time.

And just about the time we were getting tired of all the indoor toys, the sun came out again...we hope it's here to stay! Owen is officially ready for "bike-season"!

And last, but not least...A BIG Happy Birthday to Jen! Hope your day was perfect!

2008-05-06T15:05:00.006-04:00

Quick update...

Things are going well here, but I'm finding myself on the computer WAY less than usual with Spring activities and other fun things going on. Avalyn is getting to be SO big and Owen is becoming more and more smitten with his "baby Aves". He talks to her, "reads" to her (more to follow on what he reads), sings to her and entertains her all the time. His new fascination is with Ryan's "Complete guide to home plumbing" book. He carries it everywhere and has Ryan tell him over and over (and over and over) what all the parts are in the book. He wakes up in the morning and is on a mission to get his book. He was singing to Aves today and all of a sudden realized that he didn't have "the book" so he ran and got it and then proceeded to show her all the cool pipes in the book. Future plumber?? I love just watching the two of them interact! I hope they'll be best buds someday.

In other great news, Auntie Jo is engaged! We are all so excited for her and can't wait for Marc to be "Uncle Marc". From the picture below, you can see he's just as excited as we are for him to be Uncle Marc.

Thanks for my new shades, Auntie Jo!

So big!

2008-04-26T15:34:00.006-04:00

Warm weather=happy kids & LOTS of sleep

I can see frequent posts falling by the wayside as the weather gets nicer and we temporarily "move" outside. We have been taking full advantage of the weather by going to parks, taking walks and having daily picnics for lunch and sometimes dinner outside. I love that grilling season is back! We've been grilling a ton...salmon, burgers, chicken...I love it! Owen gets himself so worn out that he has been taking 3 1/2-4 hour naps and sleeping 11 1/2 hours at night! I feel like I have 2 infants with all the sleeping going on!

Baby Aves is growing so fast and making more and more fun sounds and noises..."I" and "oh" are the new ones...Owen thinks she knows his name. She loves being outside too and is in her glory watching all that goes on outdoors. I love that she will smile on demand now...it's the best when you know it's a real smile and not just gas!

We were playing the other day and Owen was getting ready to mow the yard and I told him he needed to gas up first, thinking he would pretend to put gas in his little mower. I should have known better. He went right to the shed, got out Ryan's big gas can (not really a can, cause it's plastic, but you get the idea) and proceeded to fill 'er up! He thinks it's just hilarious that I call him "mini-Ryan".

Tonight Ryan and I are going to a hospitality dinner with 3 other couples from church...our first outing without either of the kids. Owen is pretty psyched to go over to Bobby and Jojo's house (my aunt and uncle) and feed (and he thinks play with) the horses. Avalyn will probably be held & spoiled the entire time. It'll be nice to have a couple hours of good food and adult conversation. So, until next time...

Oh, 1 more thing...if anyone has a really great grilling idea or recipe, let me know...it's not even May and I feel like I'm already repeating meals.

2008-04-21T10:25:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Ryan!

The post is a day late, but it was a little busy yesterday. I feel like I have to explain the semi-lame cake. I asked him what he wanted...told his I would attempt anything...gave him some examples, like Phillies, Eagles or something to do with hunting or camping, but no...what did he want for his cake? Yellow cake with chocolate icing and the number "28" on the top. (He turned 28, for anyone wondering about why he would choose that number.) I was a little disappointed, but it was definitely an easy one to do. I told him to brace himself for his 30th b-day, cause the cake WILL be amazing.

I have to admit, I'm kind-of happy for a dreary day...I'm doing all the laundry that can't be hung outside...towels, washcloths, etc...and finishing the cleaning I started last week. I have the hardest time getting motivated indoors when it's beautiful outside.

Well, I had better stop wasting time and get to those floors...amazing how little bare feet that have been outside can make a clean floor dirty in less than 5 minutes! I just have to remind myself, someday I'll miss those dirty little tracks across the floor...or will I?

Had to include this picture of Owen with his Gramps and Papa...he loves his "Great" grandparents!

2008-04-17T19:11:00.003-04:00

Precious...

Nancy let me play with her new camera and I fell in LOVE with it...I'm now battling feeling of envy...can't wait to play again!

2008-04-17T13:27:00.004-04:00

Ice cream cone...$1.50

Sprinkles...$.50

Sunglasses...$10.00

Not getting ice cream on my freshly washed (white) laundry...priceless!

*Note: The girly sunglasses are mine, we can't find his cool camo ones...yet another missing thing!

2008-04-17T09:55:00.006-04:00

Thoughts and a question...

After months of the piles of laundry annoying me, I'm finally back to being able to hang it out...probably my favorite "chore" to do. (I know Carla is probably wondering why I am only posting this now after a month of laundry-hanging weather) I kept forgetting to hang it on these nice days and then would be so annoyed at myself as I remembered when the dryer was finished. Well, I'm back and actually looking for random things around the house to wash, so I can hang them out. I'm always amazed at the bleaching power of the sun, so I've been saving some of my dingy whites to do now. I have our comforter hanging this morning.
Wow, really interesting stuff so far, I know! While I'm writing about the riveting news, I'll add that we found Bob (under a seat in the car), Archibald, (under the crib) a GeoTrax guy, (under my bed), and a shot from the Dr. kit (Under the oven). Still missing those French peas...frustrating!
Not too much else, though I could go on and on about this awesome weather...

I know it's a little rough-looking, but this is the inside of the cake. Last picture, I swear!
So, for my question, or dilemma: The past 2 nights Avalyn has had a hard time going back to sleep after I feed her. She is only getting up once between 3 and 4am, which is great, but has reverted back to wanting to stay up. I have found that she sleeps great when I just give up and put her in bed beside me, but I do not want to start this habit, as much as I would LOVE to. Light sleep is better than no sleep, but that's a tough habit to break. She also sleeps great on her stomach and herein lies my dilemma. All I see, read and hear is "Back to sleep" because of the SIDS thing. She is fine napping and going to bed initially on her back, but is restless after that 3-4am feeding. I would love to just let her sleep on her stomach because she does so well, but I would never forgive myself if something would happen and I knew the warnings...it doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but I thought I would just put it out there in case anyone had strong feelings either way...

2008-04-14T19:15:00.002-04:00

Mommy finally got proof that I smile! She was so ticked that I was wearing a bib in the picture..oh well!

2008-04-14T19:06:00.002-04:00

Thanks for my favorite shirt ever, Auntie Mel! If my mommy had any sewing ability at all, she would stitch a little "Bargain" between the words "to" and "shop"! Can't wait to see you!

Love, Avalyn

2008-04-14T17:08:00.000-04:00

2008-04-14T14:23:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, Mom!

Have a wonderful b-day! (actually on the 16th, but we celebrated this past weekend cause Joelle was home) I could make a "Top 1,000 great things about my Mother" list, but since I only have limited time until one of the kids wakes up, I'll make it a top 3 list...and actually these aren't necessarily THE top 3 things, just the first 3 that came to mind...

1. Your constant example of not only a godly wife, mother and grandmother, but also a woman who is generous, kind, and goes WAY out of the way to always show love to family, friends and others in need of encouragement.

2. You listen (and we know how I can go on and on and on) and somehow manage to help solve my problems by slipping in advice and council, even when I'm too stubborn to ask for it. AND when I need that not-so-gentle shove towards the right thing to do, you know when it's necessary to use both arms to push! :-) Keep doing that, by the way, cause I think I'm getting more stubborn the older I get, rather than less stubborn...

3. You look about 15 years younger than you really are...hopefully this is a genetic thing.

Happy b-day! I love you!

2008-04-14T10:00:00.004-04:00

2 Months Old...

It's hard to believe it's been 2 whole months already, yet it's even harder to imagine life without sweet Avalyn in our family...such a perfect fit! She's growing fast, but I love that she still fits in some of her "up to 7 lbs" clothes. It's always a little sad putting the clothes away that they grow out of.

Everyone is recovered and back to normal here, which is wonderful! My main goal today is to find the toys that have gone missing in the last few weeks. I haven't been as particular (I'll use that word, it's nicer) about having things spotless at the end of the day and now it's absolutely driving me nuts that we can't find Bob the tomato, the French peas or Archibald Asparagus, among other missing things. Sounds pathetic, but I have mounds of laundry and more disinfecting to do as well...not just the hunt for the missing toys.

I know some of you are on the edge of your seats waiting to see the latest cake creation, OK maybe just Nancy and maybe she is just humoring me, but I'll post pictures later of my mom's b-day cake.

2008-04-09T19:47:00.001-04:00

The Saga Continues...2 down...

Well, we're finally on the mend here at the Hostetter household. Yesterday was a rough one...the only coherent thing Ryan said to me was, "Do you know what day it is?" I didn't know if it was a bad sign that he was that far removed from life or a good sign that he even cared! My mom called in the morning to tell me there were now 2 down...Owen had a 102 temp. He is still running a temp today, but it's not the flu, just a fever and cold-like symptoms. I knew he was really sick when at noon, yesterday, he BEGGED me for a nap. I wanted him to eat lunch, offered him everything I could think of, and he just walked upstairs and waited by the bed. Poor kid! An hour before his usual nap-time.
Today, Ryan actually went outside and was walking around and we even had dinner as a family! The boys didn't eat much, but it still counted!
As for my little girl, I have to say she proved me wrong in the last post! I fed her at 8:15pm and she was asleep right after 10:30pm, didn't wake up to eat until 3:30am and went right back to sleep. (This is where the issue has been. She had been getting up twice, but then not wanted to go back to sleep...staying up anywhere from an hour or until the next feeding...hence, no picnic!) She ended up sleeping until 8am when it was time to feed her again! Way to go, baby girl! You can prove me wrong any day! She had a repeat of Tuesday night again last night! It was quite nice!
Anyway, just wanted to update..thanks for all the care and concern...it's nice to be home again and hopefully on the down-side of all the sickness!
Until next time...

2008-04-08T22:37:00.002-04:00

Keeping my fingers crossed...

Well, since I'm up and "trapped" either upstairs or in the basement, I chose upstairs and thought I might as well post. Ryan, the guy who rarely gets sick, is sicker than I have ever seen him. It all started a couple days ago when he got a horrible headache that wouldn't go away, no matter what he took. Then it moved to his throat and then when he called from work Monday and told me to schedule an appointment, I knew it was serious. He hates going to the doctor like I hate taking any kind of medication. The earliest appointment they had was 9PM, so he went last night and they said it was either the flu (the REAL flu, not the stomach bug flu) or pneumonia. They gave him 2 prescriptions for his nasty cough (one contained codeine) and sent him on his way with plans for chest x-rays the next day...oh, at this point he had a fever of 103 and looked like death. So, today the flu test came back positive and he had yet another prescription prescribed. So, I have to mention that the side effects to these meds are out of control. For the one, he has to drink a glass of water before he takes it and another, at least, 8 oz after or his throat will close...nice! The flu medication will cause nightmares and hallucinations...what in the world? I hate taking Tylenol, let along these kind, so at this point when the pharmacist is telling me this, I am thinking that I'm headed home to kill my husband with these major strong drugs. The fever won't come down (he's on Ibuprofen on top of everything else) and mid-afternoon he started throwing up...I found this out when he told me to wash everything "really good" in the kitchen sink because he threw up in it (over dirty dishes...ahhh, gross!) six times. I now want to disinfect everything in sight...as I was Lysol-ing the phone, I realized how long this process will take whenever he gets over this. Anyway, I am praying that no one else in the family will get this...I took Owen and Aves to my mom's and hung out there all day, while making trips back to sick-y with food and other things. This was one of those days (not that every one isn't) that I am SO thankful for my awesome mother...letting me invade her house with the kiddos, (she canceled plans!) making homemade soup for Ry and bringing him Gingerale and OJ this morning, (she said that she NEVER wants to hear a mother-in-law joke come out of his mouth) and insisting Owen stay overnight to avoid germs (It does feel like I'm walking into germ-fest 2008 every time I open the door).

Today was also a good lesson in all Ryan does around here that I take for granted...staying up late every night with Aves so I can get an hour or two of sleep before the fun begins, (she is getting better, but it's still no picnic!) transforming to Super-daddy as soon as he gets home from work, (the poor guy gets no downtime anymore) putting Owen to bed every night, (and dealing with all his little bed-time rituals) and the million other things that he does that go unnoticed until they aren't done one day.

I'll have to end this since it's time to wake up Ryan to take another pill ...the close your throat kind...ugh!...until next time...

Thought I'd include a picture of how I feel :-)

2008-04-06T20:15:00.006-04:00

"Bum"mer you're not here...

Just a post to tell Auntie Jo I miss her. Come home soon! Can you believe how big I'm getting?!?

P.S. Owen misses you too, but was not in the posing mood today.

2008-03-27T10:32:00.004-04:00

Happy birthday AND congratulations...

Congratulations to Kevin, Amanda and big brother Blake on the birth of precious baby Ethan Samuel! Ethan came on his mommy's birthday (Wednesday, March 26 @ 6:30am) and weighed in at 7 lbs, 14 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. We can't wait to meet the newest member of your family...maybe NOW you'll have time to start a blog!

P.S. Avalyn says, "What a little Hottie!"

2008-03-25T17:02:00.005-04:00

Easter Weekend...

We had a great Easter weekend at the cabin...it was cold (even snowed all day Saturday!) but we still got in an egg hunt and got to be outside a lot. Owen had a great time hanging out with the boys...working, playing and hiking all over the place. His face was absolutely priceless when he woke up Friday morning and Aunt Joelle was there. We didn't tell him that she and Marc and daddy were on their way Thursday night because he never would have gone to bed. I haven't ever seen him sprint into someone's arms like that! Baby Aves (as I realize I call her most of the time, cause Owen has started calling her Aves too) starting sleeping really well and following a predictable routine while at the cabin, which is wonderful. She was majorly spoiled and only put down when we were eating or sleeping, but has recovered nicely since coming home! It's been so fun since she is awake more...and she is turning into quite the little smiley thing! I love watching her...sleeping or awake. Owen is being such a big helper...retrieving her paci from all the places she drops it and getting me diapers and wipes and whatever else I need. He loved holding her and when she cries, has to immediatelty run over to see "what's wrong with baby Aves". I can hardly believe she'll be 6 weeks old on Thursday! Time continues to go way too fast!

We are all hoping for continued good weather...we broke in the double stroller today...felt great to be out, but boy is that thing ever a beast!

Well, I've been having good luck posting pictures today, so I'll include as many as I can while things are working properly!

Until next time...

Working hard

Hangin' with Marc

Laundry day...is every day

The "Spring" sunflower cake I made for Easter dinner

Owen & Avalyn on Easter

My little Easter bunny

Too sleepy for pictures

Picture People photo shoot

2008-03-17T13:07:00.008-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

1 month later and things are going pretty smoothly here. I had Avalyn to the doctor last week and she is up to 8lbs, 3 oz and is 20 3/4 inches...a whopping gain of 2 lbs and over 2 inches since birth...how do you make things slow down???

We had a busy weekend, which was wonderful! Friday night we had dinner at the Turk's house, which always consists of quite the culinary spread. For the menu and pictures to go with it, check out Turk Talk! Owen had fun watching 101 Dalmatians in their "movie theater" and we had fun being captivated by Nancy's stories. (Seriously, Nancy, write a book already!)

Saturday, we celebrated Easter at the Hostetter's, complete with an egg hunt (over 130 eggs!) and a BBQ chicken dinner. We also celebrated Bailey's 2nd birthday! From there, we headed to Jon and Angie's to celebrated Jackson's 2nd birthday. (He and Bailey are 2 days apart!) After more cake and ice cream, we were all ready for bed.

Sunday was church, the weekly trip to Giant for groceries (which has become my outlet, rather than a drudgery each week. :-) And at life group, they had a Welcome Avalyn party. We came home with lots of diapers and wipes (HUGE blessing!!!) and had red velvet cake with pink icing...thanks Nancy! It was a fun evening and I was reminded, once again, how blessed we are to be a part of such an awesome church.

Which reminds me of the few random things that I think of at the 2 am feedings that crack me up in the morning.

1. I wonder if I would do better or worse on the SAT's than I did in high school if I were to take them now?

2. I wonder what Ryan would do if I kicked him so hard he flew out of bed?

3. I wonder how many ounces of milk Avalyn's actually getting?

4. I wonder if Avalyn is going to feel rejected because of the huge difference in the number of pictures I'm taking of her verses the ridiculous number I took of Owen? (Note to self: Take some pictures today and get yourself to Picture People this week.)

5. I am so lucky to have the friend and family in my life that I do. (Now getting teary and can't reach tissues)

Anyway, this is going to feel like a short week, cause Thursday morning, Owen, Avalyn and I are headed to the cabin with Peeps and Nena. Ryan, Joelle and Marc are coming up Thursday night. This is one of my all-time favorite traditions...Easter at the cabin! I had better start packing now, but the thought of the enormous list I'm going to get to make is getting me excited already! This year we're leaving a day early and will be back for church and the big Easter dinner at Ryan's aunt's farm in Landisville...another tradition we love about Easter!

One last thing before I finish cleaning and begin making the list of all lists...

Avalyn Jean was named after my grandma Brandt (Jean) and I only found out after I named her that I was also named after her...my Gramps always called her "Jenny" and (fun fact for some of you) my parent actually named me "Jennifer" (don't know if they were going to call me Jenny or what) but ended up having it legally changed to "Jena" after a couple of weeks because they decided that they were going to call me Jena anyway and there were too many "Jennifer's" and they wanted something different. All this to say, I love this fact that I was named after my grandmother (makes Joelle furious with envy...cause she got the passed down middle name of Louise from my mother and grandmother and I got the "good " name) All to say, it made naming AJ (Jean) all the more special. And all this randomness to explain the above picture...Gramps with AJ. I love this picture!

*Sorry to anyone with the name, Louise...it's a good name, Joelle just likes to pick fights.

2008-03-11T08:45:00.001-04:00

My due date is here...

...and I'll have a 1 month old in 2 days! Still a little crazy to me, but it's so nice to be 1 month "in" already...she is getting established in a routine, eating very well, and so much fun. I'm trying to savor every moment cause I know it goes SO quickly! Anyway, not too much to report, so I'll just post some more picts.

2008-03-09T16:13:00.007-04:00

Happy 21st b-day, Joelle!

I can't believe my baby sister turned 21 on Friday! I'm a little late with the post, but better late than never! (And I wanted to have pictures of the cake I made for her to post as well.)

We love you Joelle! We are already missing you!

2008-03-02T16:04:00.003-05:00

Sweet baby girl...

I haven't posted in awhile...things have been going so well, but my computer time has been pretty non-existent. I had to post this picture...it's one of three I'm using for her announcement, but I had to put it on here anyway.
Nancy posted some great ones on her blog the other day, so if you want to see more, visit TurkTalk and check them out. (the Big Brother post)
I am dealing with a stomach virus today... (hopefully a 24 hour thing, cause it is HORRIBLE!!) I have no idea where I got it, but I am praying that no one else in my family gets it. I needed to change scenery since I'm been laying on the couch all day, so I thought it was a perfect time for an update.
Owen is now loving his baby sister and cracks me up when he gets possessive of her. My mom (heaven forbid) went to take a peek in her car seat the other day and Owen ran over and said, "Nena, no, no, no! My baby!" I am just glad he is lovingly possessive rather than trying to give her away, like he was doing the first week home. I'm still in slight shock that I have a 2 week old. I laughed as I looked at my calendar and it said 39 weeks today! I was warned over and over and over how much of a shock and adjustment it was going to be to have 2 kids and some even said, "You'll never want to have more after this one!", but I have to say, it has been wonderful! I am loving my little family of 4! Of course, I haven't been cooking or out of the house too much, but still...we're having a great time...except for at 2am...but even that is getting better. I told Ryan that Avalyn had her best night ever last night and I was so ticked cause my stomach hurt so bad I couldn't sleep anyway! Ugh! I'm hoping tonight goes better! If you're reading this on 2/2, PRAY this is a 24 hour bug!!
Anyway, my time is up...literally..gotta go!
More picts to come!

2008-02-20T13:29:00.007-05:00

Avalyn Jean Hostetter

6lbs, 5 oz 18 1/4 inches

What a complete shocker that this precious little GIRL came early on Valentine's Day! For the quick version, my water broke (totally thought I was peeing my pants...really confused since I didn't have to go!) at 2:15am on February 14th. We got to the hospital at 7am, started pitosin at 8:30-ish and had her at 6:40pm. (After a mere 2 pushes...and before anyone thinks that's too easy, I pushed with Owen for 3 hours and 17 minutes, so I had a good delivery coming!) Everything went so well and for being 3 1/2 weeks early, she didn't have any complications or issues at all! God is SO good!

She is the sweetest thing and SO unbelievably good so far...good eater and sleeper...what more could I ask for? Owen is adjusting pretty well and loves to talk and sing to her. I think he was expecting a baby (like his favorites, Trey and Ella) that you can play with and interact with and when he saw tiny Avalyn, he was not thrilled!

It's almost time for her to eat again, so I'll make this fast. One quick funny and one "this is really happening" moment.

Owen loves chapstick, or chaps-stick, as he calls it. He rubs it on his lips and then one time around his whole face. Yesterday I was nursing Avalyn, and saw him grab my Lanolin and exclain, "Cool chaps-stick!" He unscrewed the cap and rubbed it on his lips and then once around the face...oh brother...when he is 16, he will find this SO embarrassing.

And a few days ago when I was doing a load of baby stuff, I was removing the lint from the dryer and it was PINK! It was at that moment I realized how extremely cool it's going to be to have a girl! Pink lint...I love it!

So, so tiny...

2008-02-11T15:33:00.000-05:00

Like father...like son...

This was just too cute to not take a picture of. Owen has to imitate EVERYTHING Ryan does! It's always a good reminder to me that he is watching everything...and for me to be on my best behavior!
P.S. Susanne, do you notice who is lined up watching Owen eat...I swear, they do not leave his sight for a minute! At one point Ryan commented that it's getting creepy having them stare at us at every meal! :-)

And a Happy 30th birthday to Terri!

2008-02-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

Pay It Forward

Have you heard about it? Pay it forward? A friend of mine had posted about this and I decided to take up the challenge! The rules? For the first 3 to comment on this PIF post who want to particitpate: You will get something handmade from me, maybe not anytime soon, but sometime within the next 365 days. Here's the catch...if you decide to participate, YOU must do the same on your blog, and make something for the first three people who comment on YOUR PIF post. You never know what you will get! Doesn't this sound like fun?!? (I must say the catch for me was the 365 days! NO PROBLEM with that time line!) :-)

2008-02-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

2 in 1 day...

See...when I start posting, I get on a roll! Not really, but tonight Ryan got his new company jacket and was modeling it with this ridiculous do-rag and talking to Owen like he was a big, tough gangster...Owen, of course, thought it was hilarious and then Ryan told us that Owen's "Uncle" Buckeye (Karl, for anyone confused) loves do-rags and wears them all the time...sorry if I'm giving away your secret, Karl, but I thought this was just hilarious. So, then Owen instisted on putting on the "hat" and coat and thought he was too cool, looking like Daddy and Buckeye. After this post, Buckeye will probably never speak to Ryan or me again...

2008-02-07T16:25:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile...

Playing with my cousin, Bailey, at Christmas.
I was reminded last night that it's been a LONG time since a post (so this one's for you, Terri), but I have been more unmotivated to blog than ever. I feel like I get in a posting mood and could do a ton, and then I could go weeks without posting...or missing it.
Anyway, I guess the time I would normally spend posting has been spent working on my goal of catching up all scrapbooks before the baby comes. I'm actually thinking it's going to happen. I've been doing a page a day...or most days for over a week now. I find myself not taking pictures, so I don't have to scrapbook them, which is terrible, but I know it's only a matter of time (about a month) until I get major camera-happy again.
All is well in prego-ville. Owen never "dropped" and this baby has already, so maybe I won't go 8 days over this time! (I'm hoping to go 4 days over and have him/her on the 15th because our anniversary is June 15th, Owen was born on October 15 and how great would it be (and easy for Ryan) to have all major family dates on the 15th!) I am SO enjoying the easier breathing and greater lung capacity that comes with a lower-sitting baby! I'm at 35 (and 1/2 if you really want to get technical) weeks and feeling pretty good. I'm getting so anxious to meet this little one and find out what color clothes I need to buy...actually, if it's "blue" clothes, I'll change that to "hand down".
Owen is doing awesome in the big boy bed. He hasn't gotten out by himself since those first couple days and is so proud when he "Calls mommy and mommy is happy" I guess since Owen isn't a major blog reader, I can quick tell this story before I sign off for another month! The other day when he woke up, he left a huge (boys would be proud) stinker and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever done. I blamed the silliness on the previous weekend spend in "man-ville" with Daddy...anyway, I rolled my eyes and asked him if he pooped and he said, "No Mommy, I just had a booger." Now he has me laughing too and I explained that boogers are in your nose and stinkers are from the other end and he just calmly replied, "Nope, it was a booger." Whatever, Owen...
Until next time...

2008-01-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, brother...

Well, Owen did awesome last night...and even remembered to call me rather than get out of bed by himself this morning. Not so easy-going for nap-time. He went in at 1:00, talked and played until 1:45, then I heard some rustling and his door SLOWLY opening a tiny crack, then opening more and more until he started sneaking out. He didn't see me watching, so I said, "What do you think you're doing?" He jumped and whispered (so he wouldn't wake whoever he thought was still sleeping) "I'm going downstairs...to play." Um, no, I don't think so. We went back in, got all tucked in again and he got the hear the repeated lecture about not getting out of bed, but calling for me. 5 minutes later, the door cracks and out he comes again. He gets the less sweet version of me and is put back in bed, and lectured for the last time...hopefully. 5 minutes later, I hear, "Mommmmmmyyyyyy, I'm ready to get up! Come get me!" Back in I go, give him one extra stuffed animal and a stern talk about shutting his eyes and going to sleep. He is now talking and playing again. I don't think a nap is happening today!

In other news, the baby's head is down and all is well! I am getting so anxious to meet this precious little baby soon!

Oh, the picture is of simpler nap times...long ago!

Until next time...

2008-01-20T22:16:00.000-05:00

Busy times...as usual...

With the baby coming in 7 weeks (or 8 or 9 if things go like they did with Owen!) I've been trying to fill our days with as many fun activities for Owen as possible. I know once the baby comes, he'll be getting a rude awakening into staying at home A LOT! So, I haven't been as faithful with blogging cause by the time I have a chance to get on the computer, I'm totally not motivated to upload pictures.

Anyway, I did snap a few pictures of what we've been doing over the last week or so. The one day we stayed in all day, we got out finger paints. Owen LOVES to paint and it helps with learning colors too, an added bonus!

He got to build a mini-snowman with Ry on the day it snowed and was so excited to finally be able to wear his new boots, snow pants and gloves. The snowman was built in a shaded area that never gets sun, so it's still fully assembled.

And the big news of the week...I know some of you will laugh at this, cause he is over 2 years old, but we finally made the switch to the big boy bed tonight. I hated the thought of this and put it off for so long. He did amazingly well in his crib...I still even have his mobile up cause he never fussed with it. He didn't try to climb out or do any of that "definite sign to move him to a bed" stuff. I guess I finally just caved, knowing that I don't want him to feel like the baby kicked him out of the crib when he/she comes. So, I put some flannel sheets on it today and tried to pump him up for the move. He was SO excited to be a big boy in a big bed...too cute! I had to go in after lights were out and kisses were given to take some pictures. I was proud of myself for not crying...it doesn't take much these days!

This picture totally cracks me up! I told him to close his eyes and pretend that he was sleeping and this is what I got!

And for all of you who are pitying my poor little boy with girly sheets, blankets and comforter, this will eventually pass. I have his new boy sheets packed away in the basement for when we move, so since he doesn't know to care about having pink flowered sheets, I'm using the ones I have until then. I do feel a little bad about it...not bad enough to go digging through all the "when we move" stuff though.

Tomorrow I find out if we're head down...which seems early to be worrying about, but I'm keeping a journal (the same one I kept with Owen, just in a different color ink) and at this point with Owen I was doing exercises to try and flip my breech baby. I think I probably was just more paranoid last time. Amazing how different it is when it's not your first!

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more to come soon, so until next time...

2008-01-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Top 3 remarks of the week...plus one

1. "Wow! You look like you're ready to pop! Are you due at any time now?"

Thank you, but I have 2 more months to go.

2. "Oh my! Are you having another baby? How old is your baby at home? I can't believe your expanding your family already!"

My baby at home turned 2 in October, but thank you for letting me know that you think I'm not spacing my children correctly. (FYI: This came from the same woman who told me that it was completely unnecessary for me be a stay at home mom with Owen because, and I quote, "Your children only really need you when they hit middle school. When they're babies all you do is pat their heads and rub their cheeks and ANYONE can do that.") Seriously.

3. "When I was pregnant with my child, I only gained 17 pounds and had my husband bring my pre-pregnancy jeans to the hospital and I buttoned them up and wore them home."

Hmmm, I gained 40 with Owen and couldn't even get my pre-pregnancy jeans over my thighs, let alone zip them for a LONG time. I feel like I gain 17 pounds the first month.
(FYI: When I got home later that day, I ate a brownie AND a Special Dark bar...obviously these comments aren't affecting me much!)

And the winner of all comments made during this pregnancy so far:

"You're knocked up again? Don't you and Ryan get out much?"

Gotta love people who just say whatever they're thinking, huh?

2008-01-08T18:50:00.000-05:00

Loving this January warm front...

It just wouldn't be "me" not to post about this unbelievably perfect weather! I have really tried hard to savor every second that I could of it and am really not looking forward to the cold again, now that I feel like Spring has officially arrived, but I'll just be happy for what I haven gotten over the last three days...wow, what a run-on sentence! Sorry to any English perfectionists!
Sunday we got to take a long family walk and it just amazes me how great I feel after walking outside. I really didn't realize how stir-crazy for walking I was getting! I'm sure Ryan gets a little tired of my million exclamations of, "Isn't this the greatest weather possible? I'm so ready for Spring!" when he would rather be on a snowmobile at this point in the year...oh, well!
Yesterday we headed to Wolgemuth Park and Owen was in his glory, playing on the slides and swings and he even got to play with his cousin, Jack, which was a nice surprise! We took another long family walk after his nap and then grilled steaks for dinner...I really was getting into this "Spring in January" day at that point. We played outside until we couldn't see anymore and then called it a night.
Today I subbed, so as soon as I walked in the door, I put on my favorite maternity cargo pants, that I really didn't think I would even get one use out of this time around (yet another little blessing!) and we all headed back to the East High playground, where we played until I regretted wearing sandals and short- sleeves.
Anyway, all to say, a few warm days can turn the barely winter blues into great fun in no time! Obviously the picture was not taken recently, but what's a post without a picture! Makes me excited to have a little one around soon, which reminds me that I need to post about some of the comments I've gotten in the last few days...I feel like getting a shirt made, that says, "Keep all pregnancy related comments to yourself!" Oh well, most of them give me a good laugh!
Until next time...

2007-12-31T23:14:00.000-05:00

Christmas Candy Lane & C'ville Reunion...

I haven't been to Candy Lane in a few years and completely forgot how cute it is! We had pretty great weather until the very end when it started raining and both Chocolate World and Candy Lane were pretty empty, which was so nice! I was pleasantly surprised at how many rides were open and how many cute things they had to see. Owen's highlights were the carousel and the train ride and he even gave the Hershey bar a hug...huge surprise after being petrified of him this summer.

On the train

This picture (below) cracks me up cause the ride had not even started moving yet and you would think, by looking at his face, that we were going pretty fast!

On Saturday "the C'ville girls" came over from all over the place and we had a great time eating, laughing and catching up! I always get a little bummed when they leave cause it's sad that we don't all live closer, but I love the times that we do get to spend together. We missed you this year, Amy & Kristen!

Owen had to pose for every picture...sadly, he'll be cropped out when it's time to print them!

Amanda and I are due 2 weeks apart (I'm first) and she got me a gift that is the latest trend for nursing moms called a "Hooter Hider" It was shortly after this was opened and described that Ryan left for the rest of the day! Anyway, it's a pretty cool little apron-like thing that helps keep things from being exposed and has lots of breathing room for the baby...maybe a picture of it is needed??

One more event to post about that I'll try to make a LONG story short...as everyone was getting ready to leave, I felt my ear "pop" It was bugging me, but only after an hour did the unbelievable pain start, which quickly turned into a headache. I hate any kind of medication and avoid it at all costs, and when I'm pregnant, I'm even worse with the whole "would rather be in pain that put anything foreign into my body" thing. Around 5 my mom called and at that point, I actually started crying from the pain...I have to say, with Owen, I labored for 13 hours and pushed for over 3 with no epidural and not a tear was shed...but I'm crying now and thinking my eardrum burst. After a stern lecture from both my mother and Ryan about calling the doctor, they told me to be seen within 24 hours and put olive oil drops in my ear. Yea, right...I am not dropping olive oil in my ear and I figured if I'm going to have to go somewhere on Sunday, I might as well go Saturday night and figure out what in the world was going on, so I headed over to the HMC after hours clinic (SO thankful that I go to a Hershey affiliated doctor that has an after hours clinic rather than go to the ER, which I would have dreaded...long wait and crowded rooms) and was seen in less than 10 minutes! They said I had a bad sinus infection and all the fluid built up and pushed my eardrum out and one more hard blow of my nose would have ruptured my eardrum. Yikes! After driving all over trying to find a pharmacy that was opened on a Saturday night, I finally got everything I needed and headed home. I am feeling better now and the sound of ringing and the ocean has lessened in my ears, but what an ordeal! And I have to share my absolute favorite part of the whole night...as the doctor was ready to write out the prescription, he looked at me and said, "Is there any chance that you might be pregnant?" I thanked him (and would have hugged him for what I took as a compliment of not looking like a blimp if I hadn't felt so horrible) and told him that I was, in fact, 30 weeks along! Too funny...although my dad burst my bubble later when he told me that they have to take precautions of not offending people cause (and I quote) "They probably have some huge, 400 pound women go in there and aren't sure if they're pregnant or just large and in charge." Thanks dad! So that was my fun ending to my favorite reunion day!

Owen's newest thing is giving "fierce hugs" I love how tight he squeezes!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2007-12-27T02:48:00.000-05:00

How can it be over already?

I have to admit, I'm suffering from "Post-Christmas" let-down. I love getting ready and making plans for the few months before and when it's all over, it's a little sad. We do have a couple more get-togethers to look forward to, but the bulk of Christmas activities are over.

My new guitar from Aunt Joelle & Marc

Ry had days off saved up, so he's been home all week, which has been wonderful. Here's a short re-cap of the week:

Saturday: I had my family over for brunch and to open their gifts from us (one of my top favorite traditions) and it was here that Owen got his favorite gift of the year...a Mr. Potato Head from Jackson. (More on this to follow)

Sunday: We had church in the morning and went to Journey with Jesus in the evening. Owen LOVED the animals and was cracking people up as he talked to them like they were his life-long friends. ("Hi Donkey, How are you doing? Good? Hee-haw Hee-haw" and so on with every animal we saw!) I'm always impressed with the huge camel they have, but Owen's favorite, by far, was the donkey. (Apparently he was a biter, so I don't have a close-up of the two!)

Monday: Christmas with the Hostetter family. We spent the whole day at Ryan's parents and Owen had lots of fun playing with his cousins and all the new toys that were opened. He missed his nap, so when we left around 6:30, he was asleep 5 minutes into the trip home. We ended up missing the Christmas Eve service, which was a bummer, but a good night's sleep and a good mood for the next day were essential. Owen opened up his new Christmas PJ's and was in bed by 8.

Tuesday: I may have been more excited than Owen for him to come down and see presents under the tree and his new 2-wheel bike all shiny and ready to ride. Well, he got up and first thing out of his mouth (and for the record, this has been the first thing out for the last 3 days) was, "Go down, see Mr. Potato!" I made him wait until I was positioned on the couch, video camera in hand. He came down and said, "Cool bike! Where's Mr Potato?" So much for topping the potato! He was cute opening his gifts and I was thrilled that he wanted to play after opening each one. He didn't have too many to open, but it still took 2 hours. Hopefully this is a trend that lasts for a long time...I hate the thought of just ripping and tearing after all that work of shopping and wrapping! Anyway, we headed over to my parents for lunch and spent the rest of the day there. More family came in the evening for dessert and game playing. We learned that Owen is still at the age where the boxes are more fun than the actual gifts...how long does this trend last?

Wednesday: A HUGE thanks to my mom for keeping Owen while Joelle and I did some after Christmas shopping. I had 4 places on my list (Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids & Bombay Outlet) and got to all 4 before lunch and naps! I ended up getting lots of stuff for the house next Christmas and only managed to spend Christmas money...if you can believe it, I still had a gift card from last Christmas that needed to be spent. I even got Owen a cute Pottery Barn sheet set for $9...unbelievable! I was able to get everything on my list but new stockings. They were really picked through at P.B. I guess I'll wait until next year. Ry spent the day at the land chopping wood and burning stuff.

Today, tonight, tomorrow & beyond: Today we're organizing (I feel like it's Christmas all over, doing my favorite thing!) and cleaning and doing laundry. Owen has been playing with Mr. Potato Head and has now figured out that mommy laughs really hard when he sticks the pieces in his own head and dances around. Ryan, yet again, reconfigured Owen's GeoTrax set...I think he likes it more than Owen. Tonight we're going out to eat with Ryan's parents and then spending the rest of the evening with them. Tomorrow we're finally doing Christmas Candy Lane (We rescheduled twice...once for sickness, once because I scheduled two things for the same night.) I'm hoping it'll be less crowded since it's after Christmas, but we'll see! I'm excited for Owen to see all the lights and everything else. Saturday is another one of my favorite traditions of the season...a day with my college friends. They're coming from all over and it's always a time with lots of memories and laughs. I can't wait!

Well, back to organizing and I'll post one more picture where I found Owen between loads of laundry...until next time!

2007-12-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

Santa Clause has come to town...

It has been awhile since posting, but there has been so much going on...festivities, sickness, a mile-long to-do list, last minute shopping, get-togethers, etc. Anyway, last night Santa officially made his stop at the Hostetter house. (Actually a friend of ours doing his yearly rounds as Santa...pretty convincing Santa too, complete with the wire-rimmed glasses and jingle bells around his wrists) We weren't sure how Owen would react, but once he got his bag of gifts out to look through, he was pretty pumped. He even gave Santa a hug before leaving and posed for a few pictures.

If I don't post again for awhile, have a Merry Christmas!

2007-12-09T15:42:00.000-05:00

Rejuvenated...

This weekend, Ryan and I headed to Philly to:
1. Get the bulk of our Christmas shopping done
2. Visit Joelle and Marc
3. Have an actual conversation and a few meals together...you would think that by living in the same house, we would run into each other every once in awhile, but lately, it has been one of us staying home while the other one has a meeting or an event every night for a couple weeks and this week is already jam-packed.

We had such a great time! We got there Friday in time to meet Joelle and Marc at the Olive Garden for dinner, then went to the mall and crossed a few people off the list, then headed to some random stores and crossed more people off the list. Saturday morning we did a little shopping before breakfast and had the list almost depleted and then headed to breakfast to once again meet Joelle and Marc.
*Story of the weekend: We were already 20 minutes late because of taking a little bit too long in Target...one of those "need one thing, walk out with 10" deals. Anyway, we were meeting them at this great little diner/pub that we always eat breakfast at and since we were already in a rush, I saw a diner sign and yelled, "That's it, pull in!" We parked, went in and looked like idiots searching everywhere for Joelle and Marc, who should have been saving us a table. We finally gave up looking for them and sat down. I (kind-of annoyed at them for not being there) called Joelle to see where they were and at the same time looked at my menu which read Blue Fountain Diner NOT Great American Diner & Pub. I obviously got that sinking feeling and when she picked up, there was no "Hello", just a "Where in the world are you? We have been sitting here forever." Oops...I told her we were saving them seats at the wrong diner a half a mile away. Ryan was very gracious (as he usually gets embarrassed when I ask for extra napkins or no mayo on my sandwich) and we quickly scooted out, me starting to get silly already. (Amanda, I was thinking how great it would have been if you and Kevin would have been there...I can imagine you laughing so hard and him wanting to die of embarrassment) All to say, we made it to the right diner (who would have thought that there would be 2 diners on the same side of the street within 1 mile??) and had a great breakfast. I blame the whole thing on "Preg-o brain."
After that, we headed to IKEA (Ryan's great idea) for the first time ever and spent a good couple hours there (eating ice cream while shopping...how great is that??)before stopping at an outlet center and my favorite, Uno Chicago's for dinner before heading home.
So a HUGE thanks to Peeps and Nena for making us take the time to go and keeping our little ball of energy. (Kind-of sad when they brought him in and we were beside ourselves excited to see him and he just hugged his Peeps with a face that said, "I don't want to go back to reality!" It took a few minutes before he was walking around saying "Daddy, Mommy and Owen" over and over in a sing-song voice.
And a thanks to our tour guides for a great weekend with lots of laughs...more at the way Ryan and Marc revert back to middle school-style antics when together than anything else. Have you ever seen grown men jumping from the up escalator to the down and back again? (where they meet in the middle) Not my proudest moment as a wife :-)
So, I'm officially rejuvenated and ready to tackle the last few "impossible to buy for" people on the list.
Until next time...

2007-12-01T01:18:00.000-05:00

The one we didn't use...

Yeah! The Christmas cards are done! In an hour, I had all 120 pictures off my camera card printed and my 150 Christmas cards were done. The AWESOME guy at the photo place (who helped me out big-time last year too) edited and cropped and made my Christmas card, I approved it and he printed 150 and had me on my way...and for the 40 minutes I waited for them to be printed, I went around to the million sample stands (there are way more around Christmas, I noticed) and gorged (great word, Leah!) myself on everything from chimi-changas & chips and dip to meatballs to pizza and even got a free tube of toothpaste and a handful of Dove chocolate! It was seriously a prego's heaven! The picture above is the "one we didn't use." I was choosing between 2...one had the adorable hat with the matching sweater and the other one had no hat, but a better, more genuine smile...I went with the smile.

Last night was the E-town holiday parade and it was LONG! We stood with some friends in the same spot we congregate to every year, which is right by the big clock with the temperature...it was 28 degrees and the parade lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes (in addition to the 20 minutes we were there saving our place). Always trying to be the over-prepared mom, I wore double pants on Owen, with a thermal shirt, a fleece and a winter coat, plus a hat and hood and I FORGOT THE GLOVES! His poor little hands were freezing, so about 45 minutes into the parade we had a melt-down...screaming "Candy! Candy!" Oh, did he ever cry...my new jacket is now a snot-rag and it'll take a year before he's ready for another parade...but it was fun! It was super-long, had great floats and good candy...other than the melt-down, a nice night!

Tonight Ryan and I are going out to eat and to the Hershey Bears game. I'm very excited to go out with him...it's been a long time since it's been just the two of us...actually Jon and Angie are coming to the game too, but they don't need my assistance for anything and keep the whining pretty minimal! I'm cherishing every opportunity to go out with Ryan alone, cause I know mid-March it'll come to a crashing halt! I'll welcome that change too though!

I am itching to continue addressing cards and now have another seemingly insurmountable of pictures that need to be scrapbooked...so until next time!

P.S. Happy December!!!

2007-11-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

Baby Jesus has returned!!!

After two days of searching, I finally found baby Jesus tonight! Yea!! This morning as Owen was greeting all his jungle animals ("Hi Giraffe! Hi Grrrrr! =tiger Hi Brrreeerrrr! = elephant Hi Rhino! and so on) he asked them each where baby Jesus is. ("Hi Giraffe! Where's Jesus?") I could kick myself for not getting out the video camera. Anyway, I'll sleep well tonight and Owen will be absolutely ecstatic that baby Jesus is safe and sound, back in the manger. Oh, the little things that mean so much!
*Note: For anyone interested, baby Jesus was under a basket full of books...how in the world he got under there is beyond me...I guess with all the shuffle of furniture being moved around to make room for the tree.

2007-11-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

Wow #3

It's been awhile since something I read in a baby magazine made me chuckle...until today!
Tip of the day for those of you still changing diapers:
"Keep a rubber spatula on your changing table to apply diaper ointment or another moisture barrier to your child's bottom. It will help to keep your hands clean and avoid problems with adhesive strips on disposable diapers not sticking."

Seriously? A spatula? Is there ever really enough of a problem to need THAT much cream? My revised tip: Take a normal amount on your one finger and then use a wipe to clean it off, or do as a normal person does after changing a diaper and wash your hands.
This tip totally reminded me of the King of Queens episode where Doug has to babysit and uses TONS of diaper creme, then wipes his hand on the back of a couch cushion.
Anyway, that's my thought for the day!
Until next time...

2007-11-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

Another funny...

I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight and what do I hear in the family room? Owen saying, "Jesus...Jesus..." I was intrigued (and confused) enough to investigate and when I went in, there he was, down on all fours, looking everywhere for the Baby Jesus from his Little People manger set. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Where's Jesus?" I thought rather than take this time for a deep theological discussion (already past his bed-time) I would just help look a little. He and Ryan looked for awhile and still no baby Jesus! His adorable little voice was so cute as he continued to search all over..."Jesus....Jesus..." I won't be able to sleep until He's back in the manger, so off I go...had to share though!

On a different note, we got our first (and earliest ever, I think) Christmas card today which got me SO excited about constructing the wall of cards again. (Actually because of the number of cards, only the picture ones make it to the wall :-) The whole Christmas card sending/receiving is one of my all-time favorite things about the season! I need to get mine done before it becomes a stress. Anyway, Thanks to the Turk family for making my day!

2007-11-27T14:44:00.000-05:00

Post-Thanksgiving Post...

I have so extremely much to be thankful for it's hard to fit it into a little post! I'll try to limit myself to 3 (at first) and then add as I describe the Thanksgiving weekend.

1. A healthy family- This is one that I NEVER want to take for granted. With so much sickness and hurting everywhere, I am so thankful for my healthy boys and a, thus far, healthy baby.

2. A close family- Although I am thankful that both of our family's live in close proximity to us, thus enabling us to see everyone on most holidays, I am even more thankful for the close relationships shared among our family. I know that they say that you can choose your friends, but not your family, but in my case, I couldn't have hand-picked a better family to grow up in and then a greater family to become a part of when I met Ryan. I love that Owen has cousins close in age on both sides and that our family get-togethers are marked with love and not tension. I could go on and on, but "close family" sums it up well.

3. Maternity pants- After eating at noon at the Hostetter's, then eating another full turkey dinner at 4 at my parents, then eating my 3rd round of desserts at my aunt's house at 7, I was extremely thankful for an expandable waistband. I just may break some out every year!

After our day of eating on Thursday, we headed to the cabin on Friday for several days. *Thankful #4: Although Owen's been without the paci for over a month, this was the first road trip without it and he did great! I was thankful for a peaceful ride there and back! We had great weather for most of the time and could spend lots of time playing outside and taking hikes. Owen was in his glory, surrounded by his Peeps, Nena, Aunt Joelle and the new favorite person, Marc. *Thankful #5: After shopping from midnight until Friday afternoon, then driving from Bethany Beach to Bedford, PA, Marc was an absolute trouper when Owen ran down the hall, bellowing "Where's Marc? Where's Marc?" way too early Saturday morning...and every morning after that. Then was very patient when Owen clung to him like a lifeline pretty much the whole time he was awake every day. So, I'm thankful for Marc and his love for a 2-year old who doesn't leave his side...often times offending the rest of the family!
Ok, now my brain is just thinking of more I'm thankful for, so here's more for the list and a few pictures to go with them:

6: A sister who can make me laugh until I hurt: The stories, the sarcasm, the never-ending fat jokes, (this actually should make me cry, but I know her time will come someday and I'm writing some of her best stuff down.) and the constant comments...drives my dad nuts, makes me down-right silly!

7: A husband who not only puts up with my pregnancy mood swings, but sometimes, even embraces them...or me after them: Here is the latest "for instance" The other morning (actually Thanksgiving morning, which makes it seem even worse) Ryan was blowing his nose, for what seemed like an eternity. Cheap-o me gets the maximum use out of each tissue before throwing it away and I felt like Ryan was taking 1 blow and then getting a new one...over and over and over. I even thought about just shutting my mouth, but annoyance overwhelmed me and I finally blurted out, "Would you please take a few blows before getting a new tissue!" maybe in different words, but this started the most ridiculous argument ever and by the end we were both laughing...and I do have to say that he ran right to my mom and told her this, so all I heard all weekend, was, "Jena, did I use this tissue enough or should I save it for later?" UGH! Also, spoiled Ryan got a brand new box of tissues from my mother then next day that were not aloud to be "shared or spared." Pathetic, I know.

8. The excitement of a child: The tradition is that Owen and Ryan (This was Ryan's last year cause the baby will take his place as the gift-getter next year...he is NOT sad about this!) get to open a gift (always a new ornament for the Christmas tree) at breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. The idea is that they get ornament that represents what they were into that year. Owen got Elmo last year and Buzz this year.(Baby's first Christmas the first year, cause I couldn't find a boob ornament for my little 1 month old.) He could have opened an empty package and been just as excited about the whole experience. I love his enthusiasm!

9. A time to relax: My favorite part about being away is relaxing. I loved this picture of Ryan and mini-Ryan reading their papers.

*Joelle, yes that sure is a the PBU paper Owen is reading! He was looking at Marc's soccer picture on the back.

10. A kid who makes me laugh every day- I always said that I hope I have a kids with a sense of humor who says those "Kids say the darnedest things" kind-of things...I got my wish. Owen is getting funnier and funnier as the days go by...maybe not in an obvious way, but I laugh pretty hard. 2 examples: My parents had their dog along this weekend and Owen would go over to it's kennel each morning and after his nap (and at various other times in the day) and say, "Hi Puppy! How are you doing? Ging?" *Ging=good...always has been how he said the word. He would have these long conversations with the dog, but I just loved how he asked the questions and then answered for the pup. The "Hi (insert name)! How are you doing? Ging?" thing is new and thus said about 100 times a day to whoever is around...or is being pretended to be around. The 6 of us would be sitting around at the cabin and he would go from one to the next until he had found out how everyone was doing. Too cute.

The one morning he woke up and I didn't feel like getting up yet, so he crawled in bed with me and cuddled for a complete 5 minutes before looking at me and saying, "Mom? A donkey says HeeHaw." First thing out of his mouth in the morning. Second thing, "Where's Marc?"

I could write about a thousand more things that I'm thankful for, but I'll limit it to these! Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was wonderful! Until next time...

2007-11-14T09:43:00.001-05:00

"Sweet" Insomnia...

Last night, I went to a baby shower at Angie's house. (to whom I'm blaming the rest of the story on) Even when I'm not pregnant, the food part of any gathering is very thrilling for me, so imagine the sheer excitement I have for these functions now that I'm pregnant. Anyway, she had THREE different kinds of chocolate cakes there... an (at least) quadruple chocolate one with sauce dripping down the sides, a gooey one, and a super-tall, triple layer one with the light, fluffy icing. I knew that rather than even try to narrow it down, I was going for a slice of each, forgetting about chocolate being filled with caffeine. Now my poor body is not used to caffeine because I don;t drink soda or coffee or tea and the only source of caffeine is chocolate which I don;t have a ton of and never at night. So while I was in heaven at her house, the party ended when I realized I had the energy of Owen that night at 11pm. Here's how the night went...in my head, or course:

1am: Couldn't get the "J, J, Jumpin' J" song from Sesame Street out of my head...over and over and over...prayer was being completely overridden by this song.
2am: Hmm, I am SO awake, I wonder if it was the 3 pieces of cake I consumed a few hours ago?? Interesting...they were so good.
3am: I am so sick of sleeping on my left side. I can't get comfortable. I want, so bad, to sleep on my stomach or back....ANGIE!!!!!!!!!!!
4am: Just look at Ryan, sleeping away peacefully, how funny would it be if I just punched him...hard? How dare he sleep when I can't. He is so rude, not even caring that I'm laying wide awake over here...
Side note: I am not a violent person, but as the hour got later, the mood got worse and worse.
5am: (Getting pretty groggy)This would make a good post, I think I'll compose it in my head...I hear Ryan's alarm go off and magically in the time it takes for the snooze to go off for the first time, I had fallen asleep! Yea!!! But not so fun since the alarm woke me up, I turn over and growl, "GET UP!"
I don't have Ella today and the Oster slept until 9, so I actually slept in until a little after 8!
Anyway, I'm back to normal now and very glad I didn't beat up Ryan in his sleep! Until next time...

2007-11-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

More meat for the freezer...

I realize that Carla may be the only one intrigued by the title of this one, but I'll tell (the very, very shortened version of) the story anyway. Ryan got his deer on Saturday on his grandpa's farm. (which I didn't find out until much later that it was the last day of archery season, which does make it pretty cool) He shot a pretty nice sized 8-point in the morning. We went over to see it that evening and he already had it hanging, so I only have one picture suitable for posting...the others are a bit graphic. I did laugh as I thought of the faces of our non-hunting friends opening their Christmas cards this year to find Ryan & Owen smiling up at them beside a hanging dead deer. He'll be butchering it himself tonight...I love that his dad has all the equipment, so he can grind it and bring it home in freezer bags, already in 1 lb proportions. Pretty nice deal. He was talking about getting some made into bologna this year...we'll see.

Owen and spent the weekend (a couple weeks ago already) in quaint Mt. Joy while Ryan had a "boys weekend" hunting with some friends. He loved hanging with his Peeps (not gangsta slang, but the actual name my dad chose for himself! You can imagine how much my mother loves it that he calls himself "Peeps".) Anyway, they spent a lot of time outside and I actually got a picture of their walk home from the lake. (Ryan refuses to call it a lake, and would want me to clarify that this is a pond, at best...whatever, when you're 2 it seems like an ocean.) They took the dog and chased the ducks and geese.

Last week, I had a WHOLE day at home with just Owen and I, so we got out the finger paints and went to town. As he was mixing the colors (something that makes perfectionist me cringe) I had to remind myself that I got them on sale...a really good one, and to let him be creative...one of the things I just read in my MOPS book chapter for this month. (Seriouely though, look at those colors after 10 minutes of use...yikes!) It was so nice to spend the whole day playing...and it was even warm enough for a quick trip to Wolgemuth Park.

Anyway, kind-of a boring post, but as busy as it's been, not too much to report!

2007-11-12T11:13:00.001-05:00

Funny...

I need to post later, but as I was sitting here checking e-mail, Owen was looking at books. I guess 2 of the pages were sticking together and all of a sudden, I heard, "Oh, shoot!" I laughed so hard cause he sounded exactly like me...his sweet little voice was just too funny...

More to come later...hopefully!

2007-11-07T10:33:00.002-05:00

Too cute...

Not a lot going on this week...had to post these picture of Ella and Owen getting ready to take a walk. I was putting on her coat and had 3 thoughts...
1. She is so stinkin' cute that I have to take a picture!
2. Girl clothes are so fun...but so high maintenance!
3. Yikes, it doesn't take Owen long to put on the moves once the camera is out!

2007-11-01T14:37:00.000-04:00

"Mohr" pictures...

The other week when we went to the Bainbridge parade, my Grandma & Grandpa Mohr's house was the central meeting place. Owen got to play with his cousins, Jackson and Chase. Chase and Uncle Denny were in the parade this year as a farmer and his rooster...it was a warm night so Jack the dragon and Chase the rooster didn't last long in their hot costumes! They were pretty into the marble chaser...Jon remembered that we had a bunch of those that my dad made that have to be somewhere around. Maybe I'll rummage through the attic at their house this weekend!

Owen is totally into his Uncle Jon & Uncle Steve right now. The poor guys don't get a minutes peace when Owen is around them and he asks for them at home too. Whenever we go somewhere or take a walk he says, "Jon & G there?"

Translation: "G" = Angie

P.S. I know, I know...2 posts in one day...Owen and Ella (the 10 month old I babysit) are both being GREAT sleepers today!

2007-11-01T11:08:00.000-04:00

Trick-or-Treat!

I forgot how extremely much I loved trick-or-treating until last night. It was always one of my favorite holidays. I remember always making my costume with Jon and my dad...and my dad REALLY got into it...we had some pretty elaborate costumes made from insulation and hunting stuff. I may have to rethink the "buying Owen's costume" deal in the years to come. We always went to my Gramps' street with my cousins to trick-or-treat.

So, last night we had Awana, so I knew we had 45 minutes, at the most, to let Owen go. We did our street and then headed to Gramps'. He lives on a pretty quiet street (he had 9 trick-or-treaters last year) that has mostly older people who get very excited to see the kids dressed up. They give out TONS of candy...little gift bags filled, big candy bars and he got to take a fist-full (or 2 since he has little fists) at each house. By the time our 45 minutes was over, he had almost filled his pumpkin! And by the way, how nice was it that it was light out and still not too cold! People were sitting out on their porches giving out the candy this year!

I do have to say that he was a little freaked out at the beginning...going up to strange houses, passing kids dressed up, getting candy that he had to put in his bucket and not eat, and hearing "Hey, Buzz! What's up, Buzz?" over and over. At one of the first houses we went to, there was a teenager sitting there with blood dripping down his face and Owen took one look and jumped onto my leg like it was his life-line. The kid, said to him, "It's ok, Buzz, the blood isn't real!" (Like that helped at all...now he's more freaked out cause the kid is talking directly to him.) The Crabby Patty he put in his pumpkin seemed to make it all less traumatic!

Our Awana had a Trunk or Treat thing last night where people decorated their trunks and gave out candy to the kids. It was really, really cute! We just walked around with Owen in his street clothes, cause he's technically not in Awana yet...he did manage to get some candy and treats though. See Jen's blog for more details...it was really a great idea...safe, appropriate and all in one place!

I have more pictures to post later, but Owen is unpacking the suitcase I just packed for him...until next time...

2007-10-27T13:10:00.000-04:00

Random things...

I had my 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday...I went in there fully confident that we wouldn't find out (and we didn't for those who might be getting excited at this point!) but boy, was I ever tempted. This decision is completely up to Ryan, because I could be swayed either way. My number one reason for not finding out is the "It's a ..." moment in the delivery room. I love it! Anyway, things look really good and the baby would have been cooperating and I even looked at Ryan at one point to just see if he would waver, but he was a rock...more like a boulder. Wasn't even tempted.

"Pinata time at the harvest party"
More randomness, the other night Ryan gave Owen a tic-tac, which is fine, but I didn't know that he gave him one. So I put his shoes on him (Owen, not Ryan) and we were ready to walk out the door when Owen ran into the kitchen, tripped and flew across the floor. Next I heard his screaming (real cries, opposed to the turn-on, turn-off fake ones he has been using since turning 2) and when I ran into the kitchen, I saw something tiny, hard and white fly out of his mouth and blood was already dripping onto his chin. My first thought (and Melissa's worst nightmare) was that he knocked out a tooth. My second thought was relief that he already had his 2-year pictures taken. My third thought was that he won't get his new tooth until he's 6 or so and that's a lot of pictures in-between. I told Ryan to go get the white thing and PLEASE tell me it's not a tooth. As you probably guessed, it was the tic-tac, but I'm considering my heart now a stronger working machine after what it was put through in those very short 10 seconds. Teeth are a big deal!

So, it has been weeks and weeks since Ryan and Owen and I have all been home with nowhere to rush off to on a Saturday morning. Ryan was going to hunt today, but decided to sleep in because of the rain. I am loving it! I got up at 8:30 and put on my favorite preg-o sweatpants that Joelle made me (They have JHo written across the back...nice!) and I've not done much since. I got some scrap booking done and after a morning in the basement, I came up to find a sparkling (and I'm not using that word loosely) clean kitchen. Ryan took it upon himself to mop the floors, clean the counters and who knows what else. I keep finding new clean spots, for instance, the top of the refrigerator. My counter-top is more organized too after he got rid of one of his 3 coffee pots that wasn't working right. I was in a little shock at the randomness of his cleaning spurt, but am so excited and a little motivated to keep it this extremely glistening. Now, I'm not allowed in the back room of the basement cause he's working on something else. (I'm hoping he's destroying this dumb stuffed bull he won in high school that I cannot seem to talk him into getting rid of.) So, now that the Oster is in bed, I might scrapbook some more...my goal is to be done with the beach pictures by the end of this week.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their Saturday! Until next time...

P.S. Happy Birthday Angie!!!

2007-10-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

Backtrack to the cabin...

Just wanted to post some pictures of our time at the cabin. Owen had a great time jumping in the leaves with his cousins, Bryce & Bailey. They were really getting into it! Another fun thing they found to do was climb onto the bear decoy, which the kids thought was a toy, just for them. It's probably a good thing that they never got to see it being used for real by the "big boys". Oh, if you're wondering why Owen has a milk jug in his hands in the leaf pictures...it's a weird fetish he has had ever since he can hold them...loves drink containers of all shapes and sizes. He found this one on the porch and carried it around until his Aunt Kelly could finally distract him long enough to pry it out of his hands for a few pictures. Strange...

2007-10-21T17:03:00.002-04:00

So many pictures to post...

...so little time! One of these days, I want to post the cabin pictures and then I have our barn party pictures from last night and I'll have more parade picts tomorrow! Aahhh! We need high-speed Internet! Anyway, my 3 1/2 hour napper hasn't taken a nap in 2 days...not because of not trying, but just not sleeping. He'll talk to his puppy and bear for an hour and then get bored...hopefully he's just taking the weekend off. For not napping, he's in a pretty great mood. I had to snap a picture of him playing with his new train set. He LOVES it! I'm excited that it's one you can build on, so we now have Christmas ideas! Also, Jen, if you'll notice, there is an elephant, giraffe and lion beside him because he WILL NOT let them out of his sight ever since his b-day. He even cried twice when he couldn't hold them to eat (so they sit and "watch" him)...wiping yogurt off an elephant is where I draw the "cleaning up after breakfast" line. Anyway, more pictures to come, but my dusty, dirty house is calling my name...of course, I technically shouldn't work on a Sunday, right?
Until next time...

I couldn't wait to post this picture cause it cracks me up every time I look at it. My precious little animal lover spent the majority of his time feeding, watching, petting and trying to climb in with the goats. For those of you who know Owen, you know that he LOVES to eat and I couldn't even tear him away long enough for a little dinner. He sat in his chair and watched the goats while I tried to force-feed him. I can't even count how many times I heard, "Jena, do you know that Owen's trying to climb into the goat pen?" Oh my, at least I knew where he was the whole night!

And for those who are wondering, he never did make it into the goat pen, but had a few new furry friends by the time we left!

2007-10-20T12:42:00.000-04:00

Parade #1...

Today was the E-town college homecoming parade...the shortest of all the parades we'll see this season, yet still fun. They had a Sesame Street float, packed with the characters and even had Cookie handing out mini bags of cookies to the kids...Owen LOVED that one. He was scooping up candy and shoving it into his bag, which will be nice practice for the next one. I did learn something about him today...scared to death of clowns...two came over to give him five and he started crying and getting up to run away. They backed off pretty fast and he enjoyed the rest of the clownless parade.

2007-10-17T16:32:00.001-04:00

Comment of the day...

Now that I am showing a little more, I'm starting to get the (much wanted, right?) comments from strangers. So today this lady comes up and says, "Are you having another one?" I looked down to make sure there weren't 4 kids following me instead of just Owen, but no. I said, "Yes, he was 2 on Monday and the next one is due in March!" To which she replied, "Wow, you'll sure have your hands full...humph! (did I spell that sound right?) Better you than me!" ...and walked away! What??? I have ONE child who is at a pretty self-sufficient age and will be even more independent in half a year! Oh my...you just never can do things the way others would, I guess! I wish I would have thought fast enough to say, "And can you believe I have 3 more at home and it's triplets that I'm pregnant with?!?"

2007-10-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

Homemade "Leaf" Pile...

After jumping in leaves all weekend, Owen got bored when we got home. I was on the computer and Ryan was watching football and I thought Owen was playing quietly...maybe the word "quietly" should have clued me in that he was on a mission. Anyway, he came upstairs and climbed onto our bed and first threw all the pillows, (the decorative ones that we don't even lean against to avoid smooshing and treat with the uttermost care at all times) then chucked them down the stairs, then arranged them at the bottom. He then proceeded to jump off the first step into them, just like he did all weekend in the leaves. Creative, huh? Ryan just yelled up the stairs, "Do you know what your son is doing?" The fact that he's my son now, lets me know that he's being nixy and not adorable, like when he's Ryan's son. I did applaud the creativity, but showed him where the more usable pillows are kept...after snapping a few pictures!

2007-10-16T22:13:00.000-04:00

Owen turns 2!

This post is a day late, but the last two days have been absolutely jam-packed and full of fun, (and maybe a little stress) so in my sheer exhaustion, I'm impressed with myself for even this small post!

We were at the cabin from last Wednesday until Sunday (pictures to come some day) and had a great time in the much cooler weather. Owen loved jumping in the leaves, over and over and over...actually I have a story with pictures of the "leaf pile" he made when we got home in the house...also to come at a later time. We were there with Ry's parents and sister and her family and my parents as well...Owen was in his glory surrounded by the family for such a long time!

Yesterday we went out for donuts (Fractured Prune) and then went to Picture People, played at the playground, hit the Disney Store and went to Toys R Us to pick out some birthday things. Tonight was the mixed family party. We had a house full for appetizers and cake & ice cream (as you can see above and the reason for the stress and a little meltdown today worrying that it wasn't going to get done in time.) The cake did get done and turned out pretty good for my second attempt at this cake decorating thing. I'm hooked now! It was worth the hours of planning, sketching, baking and decorating (and cleaning up!) just to watch Owen see it for the first time. He was in awe...then kept saying, "Hi Cookie, Hi Elmo, Hi Big Bird, Hi Oscar!" over and over and over...too cute!

Anyway, I'm going to finish cleaning up and post the rest another day!

Until next time...

2007-10-07T13:39:00.000-04:00

Bye, Bye Phillies...

...see you next year!

2007-10-06T13:06:00.000-04:00

Life's fun unexpected surprises...

It's been awhile, but I feel like we've been busy doing everyday stuff. Yesterday was so great for 3 reasons:
1. First MOPS meeting...I had been looking forward to this meeting for awhile and it went so well. Lots of new faces, great food (as usual) and all the things that I had been stressing about for the past week came together...for now.

2. I don't get packages in the mail unless it's medication or a free maxi-pad every once in a great while, so when Owen brought me a package from my friend, Melissa, I was already thrilled before even opening it. And then to my great surprise, a package of Chocolate Frogs, complete with 3 wizard cards...obviously, you won't understand my excitement unless you've read the Harry Potter books. I didn't open them right away because I knew I would be setting myself up for a disappointment, because the people on the cards move in the books and I couldn't possibly think that possible! So this morning, when I was craving chocolate, I tore into them and to my utter surprise, the people in the cards do move...not the same way as in the book, but it was still pretty cool. (By now I've probably lost you all, either that or you're reading on to see just how pathetic I really can get!) Frogs were good, cards were better (Hagrid, Snape and Sprout, for those who are interested in who I got) but getting 2 school pictures of Mel...priceless. I wish I had a scanner, cause I had to take a picture of the pictures and you can see how clear it got. Anyway, THANK YOU MELISSA...absolutely made my day!

3. Finally got to a Cedar Crest game...started out great...actually the first few minutes were phenomenal, but it kind-of went downhill from there...and since Ryan played and LOVES football, I didn't only get to see the game, but got a detailed description of what went wrong, his advice for the team (Why give it to me??) and a play-by-play of some of the more exciting parts. If only Mike could have been a fly in our car...

"What football game, I love climbing these bleachers!"

Today I'm cooking, catching up on laundry and organizing. (I love organizing!) I did take Owen to Toddler Time at the library this morning for the first time. He was too cute singing the hokey-pokey and doing all the fun stuff they have them do. I think we'll be making this a Saturday morning tradition. I would have pictures, but believe it or not, it would have been more embarrassing to whip out a camera there, than bear my soul about Harry Potter on here...

Until next time...

2007-09-22T11:20:00.000-04:00

To Infinity and Beyond...

I've been meaning to try on Owen's Halloween costume to make sure it fit for this year and today was the day. I think I might have some taken at Picture People when I go for his 2 year pictures. Anyway, just thought I would post some...I've been waiting for 2 years to be able to dress this kid up like Buzz Lightyear.

Anybody out there going as Woody this year??

2007-09-20T16:14:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to the greatest Peeps ever!

I love you!

Love, Owen

2007-09-16T20:25:00.000-04:00

Famous You-tubers...

Marc, who goes to PBU, played soccer against their biggest rivals, BBC, this past weekend. I guess things get pretty competitive, to say the least. Anyway, he and Joelle made this You Tube video and it's pretty funny, so check it out!

Note: This video and the content therein, including attitudes, music choice, language and excessive hand-holding are NOT condoned or promoted by the blog administrator.

2007-09-12T14:47:00.000-04:00

I Miss My Auntie Jo!

Not too much else to report this week. My mommy and daddy took me to the mountains last weekend. I loved playing outside and got so dirty that my mommy almost didn't even recognize me. She said I looked like a pile of dirt with eyeballs. I don't think she would find that very amusing if I said it to someone else.

Anyway, I have one story that mommy just keeps laughing about and daddy gets more and more annoyed at. My daddy loves to go look for deer and video them at the cabin. So on Saturday night he told mommy and me that he would be gone 20 minutes and then be back to make S'mores. He left at 7:00 and at 7:45 mommy told me to tell him, "No, No Daddy!" when he came back because we were worried. Well, that was her huge mistake cause I LOVE saying that over and over all the time! Ever since then I've been randomly saying it in my cute little voice and daddy is not amused and I see mommy with her hand over her mouth trying not to let me see her laugh. Anyway, I've been very silly with that phrase all week and mommy and daddy are both hoping I get a new one soon.

The pictures are of me being silly and for the record, daddy got back at 8:00...thinking he had been gone for 20 minutes.

Posted by Owen Dirk...

2007-09-10T18:20:00.000-04:00

Wow #2...

Ok, this "Pregnancy Magazine articles that I find absolutely absurd" posting might just become a regular thing if I keep coming across articles like this one that I read today in the doctor's office.
They have this new gizmo, shall we call it, that they came out with in Sweden called the Nose Frida.(Don't worry those of you who are going to want to rush out and buy one, they are available in the US for a mere $15.) It takes the place of the nasal aspirator and you just place the one end of the 14-in long tube against (not in) the babies nostril and then suck (YES, with your mouth!!) on the other end to extract the mucus. There is supposed to be a filter that prevents the snot from getting in your mouth, but come on! The day I suck my kids snot out with my mouth is the day they can haul me off the an institution somewhere. I LOVE Owen so much and will LOVE this new baby just as much, but maybe not enough to suck fluids out of their bodies with my mouth. What in the world will they think of next?
Anyway, I'll have an actual update one of these days...

2007-09-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Wow...

As I was reading one of the articles in a preg-o magazine, I could not help but be astounded by this little tidbit of information and then the "extremely helpful" advice given.
"Some pregnant women crave things like clay, starch, wax or coffee grounds. These items are not food, and a pregnant woman should not eat them. Eating them can cause problems for you and your baby. Talk to your provider if you crave anything that's not food." ...or refer to that thing called common sense! :-)
You never know when you're going to go rummaging in the craft isles or digging through garbage cans for nourishment! Is this weird to anyone else...or did some of you partake in this interesting cuisine while pregnant?

2007-09-04T09:57:00.000-04:00

Hershey Park Happy...

We had a wonderful day at Hershey Park last week...absolutely perfect weather, no crowds, (kids were back in school) and some good pictures. We rode lots of rides, (some back-to-back without getting off cause no one was in line to get on) went to the zoo in the afternoon, and even hit Chocolate World on the way out of the park. Here are some of the pictures...

He loved watching the huge fish. If you look in the back of the next picture, you can see that we got to the bear exibit just in time to see the little cub taking a swim. Pretty cool!

2007-08-30T17:25:00.000-04:00

Girls weekend in Washington DC...

Last weekend (How has a week gone by already?) we had a mini college reunion. It was mini cause there were only 3 attending of the 6 that are usually there for these adventures. We still had a good time and I LOVED being away and only having to take care of myself and really, my friend Melissa, pretty much took care of me. We walked all around the Arlington Nation Cemetary, toured Robert E. Lee's house and went out to eat on the Potomac River at a cool little pub the first day we were there. We went to the Washington Zoo the next day, which was the only time during the whole weekend that I felt guilty for not having Owen with me. I am a big zoo fan and this one was awesome. It was pretty hot out, so a lot of the animals were laying around or snoozing, but I managed to get some good picts. We went to a restaurant that I was craving called Tortilla Coast (great Mexican food) and then relaxed by the pool until dinner. Melissa made some awesome meals (Isn't it all about the food when you go away??) and I took over her room and did not want to leave her 400 thread count sheets...yea, it makes a huge difference, I found out. It was fun catching up, watching movies (including the Elliv videos, Amanda), and seeing more of DC. The only bummer was that I specifically requested a brunch with the President and that did not happen to my dismay.

Anyway, thanks to Mel for a great weekend! I guess the next time we'll ALL be together is Christmas! And that reunion is at my house again! Yea!

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend...I'm so excited for 2 cook-outs! My life is really revolving around food right now. I'll lay in bed at night and just think about breakfast the next morning...sad!

Until next time...

Tomb of the unknown soldier

J.F.K.'s gravesite

Cute, huh?

I believe this is the exibit that Melissa told me she wanted a picture of me beside..."If you were just a few more months along it would be perfect!" Thanks...
A 2-year-old Giant Panda

Lazy Seals

The girls plus one

2007-08-27T16:15:00.000-04:00

The rest of the fair pictures...

Playing in the corn...isn't that a cute idea!

Gently (for real) holding the bunny.

Petting the goat

2007-08-27T04:10:00.000-04:00

The Fair...

Despite the rain at the beginning of the week and being away at the end of the week, we did end up making it to the fair. Owen loved looking around at everything and going through all the activities for kids, while I LOVED all the great freebies and Ryan actually won 4 Phillies tickets. (These given to the man who never signs up for anything and forbids me to even get near the drawings for some of those "bug you until the fair next year" booths!) He got talked into entering and boy was he ever glad he did!

I had to include the picture of the cow biting Owen's hood while he's trying to walk away cause that pretty much summed up our petting zoo experience. The poor child was getting batted around like a rag doll with those larger than normal petting zoo animals this year. Did anyone else who went to that think there were some HUGE sheep in there? It's good he loves animals...he didn't really mind them all bumping him. I loved the idea of having corn in a baby pool instead of a messy sand-box and was all excited to get some and set it up to play this week until my brother-in-law let me know that the pool of corn would be the new hang-out for all the rodents in town. Nice...that idea flew out the window pretty fast!

We have another busy week this week. I'm babysitting Mon-Wed, then Thursday is our Hershey Park day and Friday I'm doing applesauce all day. I did tons last year and we're on our last container. I'm doing 1 1/2 bushels on Friday and then maybe another bushel later...we'll see how much I get the first time around. A tip for anyone who wants to do applesauce and doesn't already have a favorite apple to use: Ginger Gold...you don't have to use a drop of sugar (or anything for that matter) and it gets sweet and delicious! My Gramps got me onto that kind and I'll never change now!

I'll post about the girl's weekend in DC later, but I'm having some difficulty getting fair pictures on this one...so they might come later. Until next time...

2007-08-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

A quick update...

We've been having some busy weeks lately, I guess trying to fit in all the fun summer stuff before it's too late. Last week we took Owen to Hershey Park for the first time. This kind-of acted as an experimental dry-run, because we're going for the day in a week or two. We got there at 5:00 and it was pretty empty, so we got to see alot and ride a lot too! Obviously, most of the pictures are from the 4 hours we were there, but if you'll notice, Owen isn't really looking or smiling in any of them. He was a bit overwhelmed with everything at first. Side note: Joelle and I took him on the Scrambler, which goes way faster that it looks while in line. Anyway, he was looking a little scared as we were whipping around, so I said, "Owen this is so fun, say Whee!" He then looked at me with huge eyes and said "whee" with no excitement whatsoever. Kind-of funny. Anyway, Joelle and Marc had been there all day, so Ryan was very glad to have someone to ride the infamous "Lightening Racer" (and some other coasters)with...and after riding it said, "Best ride I've ever ridden!" Funniest thing while we were there. All five of us went on the flume ride, (Coal Cracker??) which was always my absolute favorite as a kid. After the huge hill, we were all looking around like we got ripped off cause no one got wet at all. Then Joelle turned around (who was sitting in the first seat) and was SOAKED. Water was dripping off her face, her hair was so wet and her clothes were almost to the point where you could ring them out. I think that is the loudest I've ever heard Marc laugh, cause Joelle sure wasn't feeling ripped off by that ride.

A be-lated happy b-day to Marc! I told him that his cake would be my official first real decorated cake and since the thought of creating Joelle's face out of icing was too overwhelming, I went with his second love, soccer. I had to put picts on, cause it did get pretty good, if I say so myself! After I made up the design, all that I had to do was pick icing tips and start baking!

Tomorrow I start my new job of babysitting for a friend who is going back to teaching. I'm doing 2-3 days a week, which will be great cause I can still sub on some of the off days.

Lastly, for all who are interested, baby Hostetter #2 is due March 11! We're not going to find out what we're having, so I guess there won't be too much news about that for awhile! We go for an ultrasound at the end of the month. Until next time!

2007-08-16T08:51:00.000-04:00

Coming in March 2008...

2007-08-06T12:57:00.000-04:00

Blogging or Harry Potter...

Yea, Harry Potter has been winning that one. Just to let you know, my posts may be few and far between for the next couple weeks, cause the last Harry Potter book finally came out and I've gone back to the beginning and am reading the whole series over. I read the first two when they came out, then read the first 5, when they were all out and now, I can finally read all 7, beginning to end. Maybe I'm a little geeky, but I bet no one could start the first book and not become intrigued and have to finish. Jon is just as into them as I am and it's been fun calling Ryan "mean" names from the books that he doesn't get when he makes fun of us...
Anyway, now that I've lost the respect of most readers, I'll share one funny story and then go clean up the HUGE pile of dishes in my sink. (I haven't been doing any reading today, so far, laundry...dried in the dryer*see following story*...and cooking, cooking, cooking! It's one of those "something going on every evening" weeks, so I've made a daily to-do list and am not too far into it today yet.
Ok, for the story. As you know, when Ryan is in Canada, he sleeps in a hammock. Well, there is always one "must have" new item that Ryan just HAS to get for the trip and this year it was a new hammock. It comes with a mosquito net and a rain flap and, I guess, is pretty high tech, as far as hammocks go. So he ordered one from this outdoors story in Wisconsin and had some shipping trouble...to make a long story short, it arrived the day he got back. So, yesterday, after dying to try it out for the last year, he decides to rig it up in our non-yard. I found him "napping" with one end hooked into our shed and the other end into the one end of my wash-line. (a 4x6 beam that supports 3 lines, as for optimal hanging room) I knew this was not going to end well, but kept my mouth shut and left Owen with him. The next minute I look out the window and Owen is, what looks like, scolding him while Ryan is sitting on the ground still in the hammock and my wash line is not ripped out of the ground (that would have been too easy to fix) but broken in half. Ryan said it happened as soon as Owen climbed in and thus, it was his weight that broke the 4x6 beam. Whatever...so, I'll be drying laundry in the drier for the next couple days. I was SO ticked at myself for not taking any pictures of anything. Of all times not to be snapping away. Oh well...the mental picture is still cracking me up today.
Until next time....I'm off to wash dishes, then maybe visit Hogwarts for a chapter or two!!

2007-07-25T13:34:00.000-04:00

Back from the beach...and busier than ever...

"Headstands in the sand"
Well, another beach trip has come and gone...a little sad, but it's nice to be back to somewhat of a routine again. We had another week of great weather in OCMD. Owen was ecstatic to be back at the beach in the sand. That boy LOVED the sand!

This is the one picture that semi-turned out of us.
This week has been a busy one. Monday I tried to catch up on laundry, hit Curves for the first time in a LONG time and finish unpacking. Monday evening we went over to Ryan's parents (which I'm beginning to think is turning into a mini farm) to get corn to freeze. Owen was in his glory feeding all the husks to the goats as well as apples and green beans he was supposed to be picking for our dinners the rest of the week. He loved riding the tractor to get the corn and did really well eating his first "corn on the cob". I think this was the first time I didn't have my camera along anywhere we've gone and I was kicking myself all evening. Yesterday I froze 5 doz yellow corn and next week I'll do 5 doz more of white corn. Doesn't seem like that big of a deal to do 5 doz, but with a 21 month old and several other things packed into the day, it was tricky. Thanks to my awesome mom who came to babysit during Owen's nap time while I had to be somewhere else, my kitchen was cleaned up (probably the worst part of the whole sticky corn process) and my corn was way further along than it had been. Last night Ryan had a double-header (won both for the championship of their division) and then his parents came back to the house for Brownie sundae's and beach video.

"First try at Paddle ball"
Friday night Ryan leaves for his annual trip to Algonquin Park in Canada. He'll be gone for 5 days which is long for me, but always too short for him. This is the highlight of the whole year for my nature boy husband. Sleeping in a hammock, carrying a canoe AND a 40 lb pack on my back while hiking through the woods, bathing in the lake, and pooping in a specially marked "treasure chest" (hole in the ground)...not my idea of a good time, but he always comes back refreshed and ready to take on the world. His fun times will be over about the time they make this a "couples" trip :-) I think I'll continue my tradition of moving back into "Motel Mohr" for the few days he's gone...now THAT'S my idea of a good time!

Overly excited at the boardwalk"
*Notice in this picture that Ryan is hiding behind the stroller because he was so annoyed that he and Owen were matching. We have family pictures on Thursday night and I'm already dreading the begging and pleading I'm going to have to do to even get us to color coordinate. Men...

"Spraying himself in the face with water" I have about 10 hilarious pictures of him doing this over and over and over!

"Owen and Aunt JoJo...too cool!"
"The fam"

"Lovin' the beach"

2007-07-13T12:20:00.000-04:00

It's all about Perspective...

So last night, as I was washing my face, I noticed another "age spot" or possibly a new freckle, but I'm thinking an age spot. Lots of things were running through my mind like "I need to be more consistent with sunscreen", "I AM in my later 20's now" and "It adds character to my face...yea, right!" but age spots, Come On!!
So this morning I had the following conversation.

Her: Can you swing with me?
Me: Actually I think I might be too big for your swing and I don't want to break it.
Her: Yes you can swing, cause you're not even that old at all.
Me: Well, exactly how old am I?
Her: I would say about 6.
Me: Thanks...I was feeling old until now.
Her: Your welcome...see ya, wouldn't want to be ya!

Ok, "her" was 3 years old, but I'll take what I can get...I guess it's all about perspective after all. Jen, want to venture any guesses as to who "her" is???

2007-07-12T13:49:00.000-04:00

More cooking, re-packing and some pictures...

We got back Tuesday night from Bethany Beach and are now using these 3 days at home to cook, re-pack, and catch up on sleep. Out of the hundred picts I took last week, I chose a few of my favorites to post. We had perfect weather and a really good time. Owen loved every minute on the beach, playing with all of his cousins. He loved the sand, water and all the fun beach toys. I was in my glory playing card games every night, reading a book on the beach and enjoying all the "beach food". Once we get back from OCMD, I'll post some more. Hope everyone is enjoying this GORGEOUS weather today! Until next time...